Shooting stunning 4K or 1080p video on modern Android devices is an amazing experience. However, these crystal clear and smooth videos come at a cost – much larger file sizes! A 4K video can easily eat up gigabytes of precious storage space in no time.
Thankfully, with some simple video compression techniques you can dramatically shrink the size of videos without losing too much visual quality. Read on for an in-depth guide on doing just that using the tools available right on your Android phone or tablet.
Why Should You Compress Videos on Android?
Before we dive into the how, let‘s first understand why video compression is so important:
Save Storage Space
High quality uncompressed videos can take up a big chunk of your limited internal storage. Compression allows you to store more videos using the same space.
Faster Sharing & Uploads
Large video files take longer to upload and share. Compressing them makes transfers quicker.
Reduce Mobile Data Usage
Sending large videos can consume your monthly data allowance rapidly. Compression reduces this data usage.
Optimize Videos for Sharing
Certain apps and social platforms have restrictions on upload sizes. Compression tailors videos to these limits.
In summary – compressed videos are easier to store, share and upload without sacrificing too much visual quality.
Compressing Videos via Trimming
One straightforward technique to shrink video files is by trimming them – removing unnecessary footage from the beginning or end portions.
The native Gallery app built into Android offers an easy way to trim videos. Let‘s look step-by-step:
Step 1: Find Video in Gallery
Open the Gallery app and browse to the video you want to compress. Photos and videos are organized by date for easy access.
Step 2: Launch Editing Interface
Tap the pencil-shaped edit icon visible at the bottom toolbar. This will launch the editing interface.
Step 3: Set New Start & End Points
A timeline of the video with controls will appear. Drag the sliders at both ends to set a new start and endpoint, trimming away any unwanted sections.
Step 4: Export Trimmed Video
Now tap the Save button visible on the top right. This will export a new trimmed video variant with the customized shorter length.
As an example, trimming a 3 minute original video down to 1 minute reduced its size from 98MB to 33MB, a massive 66% saving!
So if you have a lot of extra footage in your videos, trimming can compress them substantially. But this method does end up removing parts of the video permanently.
Compressing Without Trimming Using Video Optimizer Apps
If you wish to shrink videos without cutting out any actual footage, dedicated video compressor/optimizer apps are your best bet. These special apps can crunches videos down in size by upto 90% in some cases!
Here are the top video compression apps on the Google Play Store:
| App | Key Features |
|---|---|
| Video Compressor | Intuitive interface, very fast compression |
| InShot | Tons of editing tools alongside compression |
| VidCompact | Compresses while retaining high visual quality |
These apps make it easy to compress existing videos from your gallery or directly record new ones. Many also allow basic editing functionality like trimming!
Below are the typical steps to compress using such apps:
Step 1: Install and Launch App
Download and install a video compression app from the Play Store on your Android device. Open the app once installed.
Step 2: Choose Video
Tap on the gallery icon visible on-screen to pick an existing video, or use the record button to capture a new one directly.
Step 3: Configure Compression Settings
These apps provide various configuration settings to control the final output video size. Lower resolutions, bitrates and frame rates result in maximum compression.
The exact parameters available differ amongst apps, but some common ones are:
- Resolution – 1080p, 720p, 480p etc.
- Bitrate – Higher means less compression but better quality.
- Framerate – Reducing FPS saves size with minimal perceptual quality loss.
Step 4: Export Compressed Video
Once happy with the chosen settings, tap the Export or Save button. This will generate a compressed version of the video in MP4 format.
Understanding Video Compression Techniques
But how do these apps manage to crunch down video sizes so dramatically? What‘s happening under the hood?
It all comes down to video encoding techniques. Every video file is made up of two components – a video track and an audio track.
Video Encoding Basics
The video track comprises of a sequence of images, aka frames, played at a particular frames per second rate (FPS).
Modern video encoders use smart codecs (enCOder + DECoder) to compress each frame in the sequence.
Some popular codecs used for Android video compression include:
- H.264
- HEVC (H.265)
- VP9
- AV1
These codecs analyze each frame, trying to:
- Store similar pixel data only once
- Approximate detail rather than store it fully
- Optimize color and brightness data packing
This redundancy and approximation results in much smaller frame sizes. Multiple frames are then packaged together in short GOP (Group of Picture) segments:
GOPs improve compression by allowing certain key frames to act as references for others to minimize duplicate data.
The assembled frames+audio compressed as per codec specifications is then saved in a standard container format like MP4 for actual usage.
Quality vs File Size Tradeoff
A codec has various tools and parameters that control the final output video quality and file size:
- Bitrate limits data per second
- Lower resolutions have fewer pixels
- Chroma subsampling reduces color data
The right balance depends on your priorities – maximum compression or retaining higher visual quality?
Thankfully most tools explicitly display storage savings vs. approximate quality for each setting.
For example, this chart simplifies the size vs quality tradeoff for different compression levels:
| Codec Setting | % File Size Reduction | Perceived Quality Loss |
|---|---|---|
| High Quality | 50% | Minimal |
| Balanced | 70% | Noticeable but acceptable |
| High Compression | 90% | Poor, pixelated |
Experiment to see what works best for your specific video!
Compressed Video Export Recommendations
Here are some best practice recommendations when exporting compressed videos:
- Codecs like H.265 offer good compression efficiency
- Match target playback device and platform
- Set appropriate resolution for 720p or 1080p screens
- FPS of 30 provides good smoothness
- Use 2-pass encoding for optimal quality
- Consider stereo 192 Kbps audio for small file size
Exporting videos tailored to common device or platform profiles results in great visual quality while minimizing size.
Final Words
Phew, that was a lot of information! The key takeaway is that compressing videos on Android devices is really quite simple:
- Quick file size reductions are possible with just basic trimming
- More advanced compression without losing footage uses optimized video encoder apps
Balancing visual quality and storage savings comes down to picking the right codec configurations.
I hope this guide gave you a helpful overview of getting the most out of your memories and moments captured as great looking videos without consuming all your phone‘s storage! Let me know if you have any other questions.
