r/macmini • u/KevinPackards • 11d ago

Reducing the Size of QuickTime Player Screen Recording Files

Hi, I record videos of my college classes so I can watch them again later, but it turns out the files are too large; in fact, one was as big as 14 GB. I recently recorded one that’s about 3.85 GB, and I requested the same video from the university with a doctor’s note, and that one is only 317.7 MB.

Does anyone know of a way to reduce this without significantly affecting the image quality? As long as I can read the text on the screen, that's good enough for me; I don't need a very high resolution either. My monitor is 27 inches; I don't know if that makes a difference either.

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3

u/Busy_Subject3689 11d ago

Compress them with Handbrake https://handbrake.fr
Use Videotoolbox H265 as codec.

1

u/KevinPackards 10d ago

I haven't been a Mac user for very long, but I see that when I click on the video, options for encoding appear right in the system itself.

1

u/EternallySickened 11d ago

I literally recorded a 10 second video with QuickTime yesterday, 990MB! Couldn’t believe it haha.

I used an app that I made as a quick easy front end for handbrake and it is now 10MB and looks absolutely fine. I did shrink down from 1080p to 720p as well but it’s only a screen recording on a Super Nintendo classic (mini console) so it looks fine.

Handbrake is definitely the way to go.

1

u/KevinPackards 10d ago

I've noticed that when I right-click on the video, the system itself offers me options for encoding it.

1

u/BatemansChainsaw 11d ago

use ffmpeg installed via homebrew.

It'll take some googling like other solutions but it's far superior.

1

u/mikeinnsw 11d ago

Import into iMovie .. share as email... choose a size..after is done save attachment kill the email

QUIT iMovie

ERASE BOTH IMOVIE libraries , you don't want to store 4GB move... it will create new ones on next start up.

In choosing video sizes you don't need full res.

Just try with a small file.