reducing a video file size

#1 i use cam studio with "Xvide mp4 codec".
no sound.smaller size and quality exceptable for me

[edit]
one of my use fraps for recording gamplay from cod4 and fifa.
same file size as yours one.but he use ripbot (www.videohelp.com/tools/RipBot264) to compress it.u can try that.but it needs lots of testing with hundreds of parameters.

#2 You want some form of H.264 encoding. 1k-2k bitrate for 720p might give you some great results. Handbrake is excellent for just encoding, and it can do batch encoding: handbrake.fr/downloads.php

If you're getting 700MB for a minute you have uncompressed files :)

#3 @ahsan, cam studio seems nice, I actually installed it, but compared to FRAPS seems not very good (i.e. in FRAPS there is a hot key to start recording and it always starts recording on the app windows, which cam studio cannot easily be adjusted, it gave me a message that the video on my project video cannot be captured, don't know why..) So I guess FRAPS is the best choice for the time being, which means I have to only find a way to encode the video to reduce the file size. I will later look into ripbot to see if it can do the job for me. Thanks.

@Ronny, yes, absolutely, I have uncompressed video files, unfortunately in FRAPS there is still no adjustment for the encoding. I will also look what can handbrake do for me.

Thank you both for sharing this, I have recently started to play with video files creation, I still don't know enough and yours information is very useful, thanks again.

#4 I use www.virtualdub.org/ with the additional x/h.264 codec to reduce the size of my FRAPS videos.

#5 @Steve, thanks, actually virtualDub turned to be the easiest way to compress the file. All I have to do is to open the files, adjust the fps, choose a video copression and press "save as" to generate the compressed file.
Unfortunately couldn't get the x264 codec working... but XviD MPEG-4 Codec works flawlessly. May be x264 generates better quality?
I followed some tutorials on internet, but the generated via x264 codec files don't play...

#6 I was going to suggest Virtualdub. You can compress the audio in much the same way as the video too.

#7 My problem with the x264 codec seems to be that when I click on configure I see this:


instead of this:


May be I have some old version that doesn't work for me.
*EDIT .. I meant if possible can you, Steve direct me to the version of x264 that works fine for you?

#8 The build date on the top seems to be the newer one ...
However, I'm using this version from 2010 - and this might be dependant on what version of virtualDub you have, I've not updated mine in years:
sourceforge.net/projects/x264vfw/files/x264vfw/23_1659bm_23819/

#9 Thank you, Steve!
Yeah, that's exactly what I thought too, but the lack of the "Analysis &Encoding" and "Rate control & Other" tabs made me think I have an old version... Anyway I finally got it working. The video I converted is 800 X 600 (4:3) and from 1.6 GB I dropped it to 23 MB using x264(for video) and Lame mp3(for audio) with satisfactory quality.

I have made a screenshot of the settings for x264, in case someone faces the same problem:

#10 "1.6 GB I dropped it to 23 MB using x264(for video) and Lame mp3(for audio) "!!!!!
oh,that sounds grate.
i will give a try.

thanks,for the screenshot.
hope screenshot's settings value will do the work.

#11 don't forget to compress the audio too, otherwise the output file will still big. VirtualDub/Audio/Compression, I used Lame MP3 with 44100Hz, 192kbps.

#12 Way too high audio bitrate, probably ;)

Try 64kbps, 96kbps and 128kbps for that extra bit of reduction. If it's only a demo video you don't need the maximum quality for audio anyway. Especially if it's all sound effects.

#13 Another option is the divx converter. It's free and pretty foolproof. You can choose a bitrate or specify a file size and it'll calculate it for you.
It can covert DivX, AVI, MKV, MOV, MP4. Although I haven't tried converting the output from fraps.

www.divx.com/en/software/divx-plus

#14 The divx converter is great. I gave it a try, seems like a second solution for file size reduction. Thanks for sharing, BigDaz!

#15 Sorry I'm late to the party here but you could also consider dxtory. It works similar to fraps so you can capture on-demand from a keypress. While it has a great built-in codec you can also use other codecs, for instance the x264vfw codec you currently have installed (and the settings you use).

I mention this as although there is another cost for the software it does the encoding on the fly, combining the steps of saving uncompressed video to disk to then compress it.

It saves to AVI, RawCap and to DirectShow (for live-streaming etc).

#16 The best solution i found is Format Factory www.pcfreetime.com/ it converts everything to everything and its free and it also seems to be the fastest, while in other programs i need 15-30 minutes to convert a video, Format Factory does it somehow in around one minute.

#17 hey, guys, thank you for joining this thread with your suggestions.

FormatFactory is great. I don't know if it did the conversion faster but it has a very friendly interface with easy to adjust settings. I think it is the best program so far.

#18 I've been using AppGeeker video converter for many years, its easy to control and I use it for converting video and audio.

www.appgeeker.com/how-to/convert-avi-to-mp4-mac.html

It can change the video codec to a more efficient one to reduce the file size, and manually set video quality/bitrate.

#19 2 weeks ago I posted a 720p video made with Fraps but was discontent with the quality. Then I found out that lots of 1080p screencaps are being made with Bandicam nowadays. The name and UI looks cheap but it does the work much better then Fraps. You're able to record it to a web format for youtube (Xvid included). So, no need for converters etc.! I believe Bandicam is also one of the tools with the lowest framerate reduction during recording; in my eyes also very important :)

Here is a list of screencaps made with it to judge

#20 Looks like bandicam also gives you a branding to your videos, when I looked for recording software I found MSI Afterburner the only free good tool without brandings in your video or other limits.
MSI Afterburner also has a unique RTV-1 codec which allows you to record compressed without noticable frameratedrop. The only problem with this codec may be that other programs will have problems editing it.
But I found a video where someone managed to use it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqqjriKcD3o

I don't use it, the other codecs are also fine.