How do you downsize a video file?

Question

I can take videos with my digital camera, but the files are huge (8.2 mp camera). I know how to make pictures smaller, but not videos. How do you make the video files smaller for email? Thanks in advance and Happy Holidays!

Answer 1

If you have Windows XP, you can download Microsoft Movie Maker for free. Go to Microsoft at the link below and search for Movie Maker.

My digital camera takes videos and saves them as AVI files, which are very big. Using Movie Maker, I turn them into Windows Media files, which are MUCH smaller. For example, a 60 MB video ends up being around 5 MB when converted. The image quality is excellent and there are tools for editing, titles and sound manipulation. I just used it a couple days ago and it's easy to use. There are also options for even more compression, if you are willing to get a smaller picture and more digital artifacts. This works well if you have a really big file that you want to e-mail.

The downside is that Movie Maker saves files as Windows Media files, which are not playable on many computers. In particular, they are not playable on Macintosh computers.

Good luck!

Answer 2

The above answer is correct. You will need to use video encoder software. Personally, I use WinAVI, but there are many others.

A free one is available from Microsoft called Windows Media Encoder. It will take your movies and convert them to a WMV format to use on Windows Media Player. When converting, just reduce the size of the video.

Look up 'video encoder' on Yahoo and download some free trial software.

Below is the link to download Windows Media Encoder for free. You probably just need the standard version.

Answer 3

You need to recode the video. I use Nero Recode but I'm sure someone will chime in with a free solution for you.

I've found that very large files are easier to upload to youtube and then provide the link in an e-mail.