How to Compress Video for Web Streaming
Properly compressed video loads faster, buffers less, and saves bandwidth. Learn how to find the sweet spot between quality and file size for web delivery across desktop and mobile devices.
Key Takeaways
- Video compression works by removing temporal redundancy (similar frames) and spatial redundancy (similar pixels within frames).
- Bitrate is the amount of data per second.
- Two-pass encoding analyzes the entire video first, then compresses it with optimal bitrate allocation.
- For web delivery, encode multiple quality versions and use adaptive bitrate streaming (HLS or DASH) to serve the appropriate quality based on the viewer's connection speed.
分辨率参考
常见屏幕分辨率参考
Video Compression Fundamentals
Video compression works by removing temporal redundancy (similar frames) and spatial redundancy (similar pixels within frames). The challenge is removing enough data to reduce file size without visible quality loss.
Key Parameters
Bitrate
Bitrate is the amount of data per second. Higher bitrate means better quality but larger files. Use variable bitrate (VBR) to allocate more data to complex scenes and less to static ones.
| Resolution | Recommended Bitrate (H.264) |
|---|---|
| 480p | 1,000-2,500 kbps |
| 720p | 2,500-5,000 kbps |
| 1080p | 5,000-10,000 kbps |
| 4K | 15,000-30,000 kbps |
Resolution
Don't upscale — if your source is 720p, don't export at 1080p. Upscaling increases file size without adding detail.
Frame Rate
24 fps is standard for film, 30 fps for web video, and 60 fps for gaming and sports content. Higher frame rates double the data for minimal perceptual benefit in most content.
Two-Pass Encoding
Two-pass encoding analyzes the entire video first, then compresses it with optimal bitrate allocation. It takes twice as long but produces significantly better quality at the same file size compared to single-pass.
Adaptive Bitrate Streaming
For web delivery, encode multiple quality versions and use adaptive bitrate streaming (HLS or DASH) to serve the appropriate quality based on the viewer's connection speed.
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