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lukehedger/ffmpeg-compress-mp4

Last active October 24, 2025 22:32
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Compress mp4 using FFMPEG
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ffmpeg-compress-mp4
$ ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vcodec h264 -acodec mp2 output.mp4
@DamonTsang986
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Wouldn't it be much easier to use video compressor software? There are quite a few wonderful and high quality video compressors out there.

ffmpeg is video compression software (among many other things), as far as I can tell the only difference is that you run it from a command line instead of a GUI, and it's free.

Agreed. But for those who are not skillful in coding and programming, a software with simple GUI, especially when it's free, would be much easier to use.

But you will learn way more from using ffmpeg (which you would anyways with the GUI, just with extra steps, and probably some adware, or a paywall too).

Agreed, from the aspect of learning.

@dennisdebel
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./ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v libx265 -preset ultrafast -crf 28 -c:a aac -b:a 250k output.mp4

This is better for h265, it's fast and should reduce the file size by 50-70% if you want better video, change the ultrafast to fast or change the -crf to a lower number like 24

If you want to change from 4K to 1080P, add -s 1920x1080 after the -i input.mp4

h256 does not seem to work in ios safari

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