avi compression

christina · Post by **christina** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 7:42 pm

Hi-
This is a very naive question, so I am assuming there are probably many people who could answer it.

I would like to save a clip I have been working on as an avi file. When I do this, it is huge as it is not compressed. I would like to use Xvid to compress it. Can video studio apply a codec when it saves the file, or is there another way to apply the codec after saving the file?

Thanks!

Post by **Ron P.** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 12:01 am

If you have either the Xvid or DivX codec installed, then yes VS can use that codec to create a video file. Are you wanting to archive the video, upload it for viewing via the internet, or produce a DVD? If archiving is your goal, then either Xvid (free open source) or DivX (fee) are relatively good compressions to use. There are some "DivX Certified" DVD players that can play DivX encoded discs.

christina · Post by **christina** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 11:04 am

Actually I do research and have created a clip that needs to be in .avi format in order to be compatible with another program I am using. I need the file to be a reasonable size, though, and also the uncompressed .avi is not as good quality. I have both the DivX and Xvid codecs installed. What should I do next? Thank you for responding! I am trying to get this project finished up and I really appreciate it.

Post by **Ron P.** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 11:31 am

AVI is not a "format", it is a container or wrapper. Several formats use the "avi" wrapper for distribution. For example the DivX, Xvid, MOV are some that do. Compatible with what other program, and what formats is your "other program" able to use?

The options you have are not very limited. For example going to the Share>Create Video, then clicking on the drop-down menu for the "Save as" type will provide you with a list of formats that VS can create. You will not see DivX or Xvid because they are codecs found in the AVI wrapper. To use those formats, select the AVI, then press Options. In the dialog that opens click on the Compression Tab. There should be menu that you can choose which codec you want to use. Both should be listed there.

Raw AVI should be the "best" quality, since it is uncompressed. The file size is huge (around 65 gig per hour). DV is one the next better, using a compression of about 5:1, (13 gig per hour). While DV is not very portable due to the large file sizes, it allows editing with virtually no loss in quality. Then when you get into the distributable formats like MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, Xvid, MOV, WMV, the compressions are much greater, so it is extremely tricky to edit those formats, and not lose quality or have some adverse affect such as audio/video sync.

christina · Post by **christina** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 12:18 pm

Thank you again-I apologize for the misuse of terms-I really am new to this. The program I am using has to have the extension .avi, so for instance, when I tried to save the file as an mpeg it would not read it, from my understanding b/c it has the extension .mpg.

Your instructions are actually what I tried to do. I go to share, select AVI and then click options. Under options there are three tabs, where I have experimented around with things like the field order to try to improve the quality of the file. However, every time I click the AVI tab, the program crashes. I was thinking this might be where compression options are. Do you have any suggestions for preventing the crash? At the point where it crashes, I am dealing with a relatively small file. These are only 30s clips and when I save them as VS files, they are only 12KB. I have changed my startup configuration on the computer to minimize programs running in the background.

I have gotten around this so far by saving the file as an mpeg2, converting it to Xvid compression in another program I downloaded, and then doing any final cuts in Ulead. However, we got the Ulead software specifically for projects like this, so it would be ideal to be able to use it successfully. Thank you again! I really appreciate any information you can offer.

Post by **Ron P.** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 11:14 pm

First thing we need to do is to get VS to stop crashing. I feel that it may be something with your system not wanting to deal with such large files.
Please complete your System Information in your profile. Clicking on this button -->

will take you to a short tutorial, explaining how to find and complete that information. This way it will always be available, and will save you from retyping it in the future.

From there let's proceed with what the source of the "AVI' files are, and how you are transferring them into your PC. I think that you would have been better off using DV (avi).