The largest file on your Apple computer may be your video, whether you are running out of hard disk space or want to send someone a video that is too large, compressing a video is a great way to reduce the file size.
So what can we do to make the MP4 file on the Apple computer smaller? Don't worry, this article will explain what about video compression and how to compress videos on Mac.
How does video compression work?
Overall, there are three main aspects that can help you reduce the size of your video file: resolution, bitrate, and encoding.
(1) Resolution indicates the number of pixels in each frame (for example, HD is often referred to as 1080p, which equals 1920×1080). Technically, if you match the video resolution to the viewer's screen size, they won't see any drop in quality.
(2) Bitrate is another important metric you should consider. There are some HD videos with a bitrate of 8 Mbps and 4K videos with 35 to 45 Mbps, try not to fall below these numbers.
(3) Finally, there is the coding, which is the most technical and confusing part. For our purposes, we will only use H.264 encoding and MP4 encoder, both of which are considered good standards for compressing video files.
The first method: how to compress a video with iMovie
One of the ways to compress videos on Apple computers is to use the iMovie app, which is standard on macOS. But if for some reason, it is not on your computer, you can download it from the Mac App Store and open it.
Once you find iMovie in the Applications folder or redownload it, follow the steps below to compress the video.
(1) Open iMovie.
(2) Drag your video into iMovie and make sure it is fully edited.
(3) Go to File > Share > File.
(4) Use the drop-down menu to select the video resolution, quality, and compression.
Second method: How to compress a video with Quicktime Player
iMovie gives you more flexibility, but there's another free app you can use on your Mac — QuickTime Player.
QuickTime Player is a player that, although not a video editor, reduces video file size without complicated setup, and it also allows you to choose H.264 encoding.
(1) Open the Quicktime player.
(2) A pop-up window will appear asking you to select the video. If not, click File > Open File.
(3) Then, click the file > Export As.
(4) You will see a list of video resolutions, select the next lowest resolution.
(5) Name your video and choose a location to save it.
Quicktime Player
Tip: If you don't know the native resolution of your video, you can find it by clicking Window > Show Movie Inspector.
Third Method: How to Compress Video with Golden Lion Video Assistant
Golden Lion Video Assistant is a professional multi-functional software, at the same time can compress the video, can pre-set the compression percentage, video output format, bitrate, resolution, etc., it can also preview the compression effect in advance when the video is compressed, and output the file in compression. Support a wide range of compression formats, such as WMV, MP4, AVI, MOV, and MKV, etc. In addition to that, it is also possible to do clip merging, filters, add subtitles, and more to the video.
Step 1: Install and launch Golden Lion Video Assistant
Click the download button below to download and install Golden Lion Video Assistant, then double-click to open the software.
Add files
Step 2: Click the "Video Compression" button
In the first interface can see 4 parts, we click "Tools", you can see that there is a "Video Compression" button in the interface, click it.
Video compression tool
Step 3: Add the video you need to compress
Click the "+" button to add the video we need to compress, we can also change the output video format, after setting the relevant parameters, you can preview to see if we need the effect, if you are satisfied, click "Compress" in the lower right corner.
Compression parameter settings
Step 4: Save the compressed video
After clicking "Compress" in the lower right corner, the compressed video will open where the file was saved and prompt us that the compression is complete or "Compress Again".
The location where the compressed file is saved
epilogue
Compressing videos is a great way to save space on your Mac's internal hard drive, but cleaning up unwanted files on your computer is also a reliable way to free up storage space. Not only videos, but all types of files.
As you can see from the above 3 ways to compress videos, it is easy to reduce the size of video files on Mac. Whether you decide to use one of the default apps or use Golden Lion Video Assistant, it can help you compress videos on Mac with ease.