Predicting File Size

I am suprised that Quicktime does not appear to provide some indication of file sizes based on the choices made when selecting the type of Quicktime movie to make. I presume this is right. Please correct me if I am wrong.
Is there a third party out there who offers software to allow calculation of file size.
I hate waiting until I compress a movie until I can see how big it will be.
Appreciate any insight!
Mike

Hi Mike,
how should that be done?
imagine, how a compressor works:
you can write
0000000000000000000000000000000000
or, compressed
44 x 0
(shorter, hm?)
now, imagine, your movie contains 2hours of plain black...
imagine a second 2h movie, skatermovie style, 8-frame jumpcuts etc....
project A) is compressed fast and VERY small
project B) needs very long (esp the delta algorithms in any mpeg flavor) and get big.
now, add vbr, two-pass, etc.pp. algorithms....
Rick's try-out-workaround also can give you just a estimation of final file size.

Similar Messages

Smallest file size for talking head, MPEG1?

Hey friends, back again, still using PRE8.
I have to encode a talking head into a watchable quality for a podcast. Prefer between 320x240 and 640x480, prefer the later. I inadvertently tried some combination of VCD 352x240 and got an amazingly small file size that looked tollerable....and no audio (that part not so good). I cannot figure out what I did, though I probably started out with VCD setting and modified one of the video or audio characteristics, multiplexer (who knows).
The file output was a m1v and was under 99MB for an hour and a half. Other formats have all been a gig or so.
Sure, no audio is a lot smallar (don't think I disabled audio, smarter than THAT) but I can't seem to get any kind of m1v file again, pref with the audio.
Any thoughts?
While this will be viewed on a PC, we don't have a lot of bandwidth or storage space available currently. Fortunately, only graphics are at the start and end and don't have to be sharp, there is no whiteboard or other hard to encode detail.
Thanks a lot
Don

Yup Steve, for the web.
I have tried everything twice by now, and can't seem to get it to produce a m1v file again............
You know what? Think I just figured it out.
I did a search of files with my working file name after creating an mpg (which is all I seem to be able to get, even with VCD settings. Anyway, I picked up the m1v file from who knows what directory. It MAY be that the m1v file is created by PRE8 in the process of creating the mpg, and left in one of its working directories, for re-use later. PRE8 probably never intended that to be used, because it's a video-only WORKING file...Make sense?
It's hard to believe, a working video file for a 800meg mpg is 99meg. and looks pretty good. Add audio and it balloons to 800 meg? Makes no sense.
The best I can do is around 500 meg for a mpeg, and in generating a mp4, PRE8 does not change the predicted file size when you change the frame rate and hardly at all with the resolution. In mpeg 1 there is a big difference, as expected.
Unfortunately cant use flash either.
It would be nice if there was a chart someplace that gave you file size comparrisons for the various encoders and options!
Don

VBR/CBR File Size

I am running into a perplexing issue regarding file sizes of VBR vs CBR encoding...
I have a my entire library of songs ripped from CDs that were encoded at AAC 256Kbs 44.1KHz. In the name of saving space (and after doing some reading), I re-ripped a few CDs using the same encoding settings, only selecting the VBR 256Kbs instead of strait 256Kbs (AAC of course). Now, I was expecting some slightly smaller files sizes, but what I found were files significantly larger than they were in the first place. Some gained 2MBs or more, depending on the length of the song. A possible variable in this, however, is that some of the songs in questions were ripped years ago...I'm guessing 2003 time frame using iTunes 4.x. Is it possible that with the years of iTunes updates that new/improved encoding techniques would result in larger files? Or am I wrong in my understanding that VBR files are "potentially" smaller than their CBR counterparts?
Thanks
G

+"Or am I wrong in my understanding that VBR files are "potentially" smaller than their CBR counterparts?"+
The argument you heard was probably more like "a smaller VBR file can have equivalent audio quality to a larger CBR file." This is because, as Chris notes, they spend more bits on the more sonically complex passages, and less on the sonically simple passages.
If you want to experiment, you can compare 192 w/ VBR (it's a custom setting) versus 256 w/ CBR. But, if you are shooting for a particular file size to save space, CBR will be more predictable.
Message was edited by: ed2345

Preview: how to find export file size?

Odd that I didn't find a thread on "save-as". Are they squashed?
I lament the loss of "Save as…", but I would be willing to accept the use of "Export…" wholeheartedly if I could predict the file size.
One of the main ways I use Preview is to normalize images without a lot of heady image editing; colour tweaking, size, ratio, resolution, then save JPEG's for use in iTunes cover art. The end of this task was normalizing an image file size as a JPEG. Now, all I see is a slider that gives me a relative file size and no indication of the absolute range I'm working within. The only way I view my desired file size is to export, then use Finder "get info" to see the file size as disk usage.
Is there a way to do this inside the Preview application, as a parameter of exporting, like I did before Lion?

Thought I'd complete this thread that I found unresolved.
In subsequent versions, the absolute value is at the bottom of the export dialogue box. If it was there or toggled at the time I asked then I couldn't find it, but it is now so problem solved. Currently running v8.

How can I batch resize images to a file size of 1 meg?

I'm not the most technically literate mac user and would gratefully receive any help please.
I have been asked to reduce lots of images of various large file sizes and dimensions to 1 meg. I am using Photoshop CS4 and am aware of the 'Image Processor' function under 'scripts' unfortunately it only allows me to adjust the image dimensions, but I need to reduce the file size so that every image is 1 meg and at 300 dpi, it doesn't matter about the image dimensions.
Thanks so much!
Jess

You omitted to name the file format you want to use.
If you use any compression the task is far less trivial than you might think.
Trying to predict the effect of the compression (even if it were non-destructive) is not always sensible so the viable approach may be to save, check file size, if above intended one change dimensions, save, check file size etc.
I think I have come across thread/s on this in the Scripting Forum but I can’t remember anyone ever posting a finalised Script for this.

Action to save for web leaves too large file size

HI
In earlier versions of Photoshop I could create an action to batch save photos for the web, setting them to save as 600 by 400 and they would end up about 70kb. I could also stop the action and adjust the file size to a set size. With CS3 no matter what I do the files always end up about 500kb!!!
Is this a bug in CS3 or do I have to do something different?
I have to put the files on my old computer to run the action still in Photoshop 7
thanks for any help.

I tried to create a 1 pixel blank and it wouldn't save it, I tried a 5 pixel blank, still wouldn't save it so used the Save As and got a 40kb jpg file. Ran the Action and it ended up as 76kb.
Created a 30 pixel blank square and it ended up 40kb too.
Get info on the files reveals the stated file size is correct.
I created and ran the same action on my son's intel iMac running CS3 and the same result. Tried a tiff instead of a jpg and it ended up even bigger. When paused at the Save for Web window, it says the original file is about 800 kb (the reduced size to 600 by 400 from the original image) and it predicts the final web size will be about 65 to 75kb as it should be, depending on the image. But always ends up about 500kb.
Going through the process manually produces the correct result.
This is getting rather frustrating!!!!!
Would someone be able to try creating the same action on their intel mac running CS3?
All I am doing is reducing the size of say a 3000 by 2000 pixel image to 600 by 400 pixels, applying a very small amount of unsharp mask, then saving for the web to about 70kb. I have the original images in one folder on my desktop and another folder to place the converted files into.
thanks for any more help anyone can offer.
peter

File Size Question: Browser vs. MediaManager vs. Finder

Not an earth-shattering issue, but am just curious as to why the Browser, MM, and the Finder each offer different opinions as to the size of a given media file (or group of files).
I've just finished capturing a couple of hours of HDV footage from a friend's Sony cam (model HDR-HC7). Used Capture Now with the pref to create new media files at any TC break. (Will later do selective shot-by-shot logging and transcoding into ProRes422, so this B-cam material can be easily combined with AVCHD-originated footage which is being ProRes'd on ingest. For now just had to get it all on disk, since my friend needs his camera back!)
Anyway, everything went smoothly, but to use one file as an example, I happened to notice that in FCP7's "Size" Browser column, it's 78.2 MB; whereas MediaManager sees it as 77.1 MB; yet the Finder shows it as 82 MB.
All the other captured files show a similar variation. Everything's in the same ballpark, of course -- and these days what's a few MBs between friends? -- but the differences total a couple of GBs by the end of day; still not a big deal in the grand scheme, just more of a variation than I would have predicted.
So -- does anyone happen to know why this is the case? Do the Browser, MM, and the Finder each have different ways of evaluating how much space a particular media file is actually occupying, or are they each measuring subtly different things?
Like I said -- just curious.
Thanks,
John B.
Toronto

+Is there a particular reason why it makes sense for the Browser to use one way, and the Finder to use the other?+
Most likely it is down to which particular call is used by the programer to ascertain file size and therefore the way that file size data is returned to the app. Don't forget that the FCP's basic code is pretty darn old now and predates current best practices for file size reporting.
+And why, staying with the above example, does the Media Manager come up with its own unique measurement altogether, different from BOTH of the others (or is that just part of its charm)?+
Weird huh? And here's the bit you won't like ... I don't see the same discrepancy. On my system Media Manager and the Browser seem to report file sizes consistently.
+Also -- am I correct in noticing that under Snow Leopard, Disk Utility has switched from one measurement scheme to the other? (DU suddenly seems to be seeing my 500GB drives as having a single-volume partition of -- gasp -- 500GB! Who would've thought?)+
Yup, its a brave new world.

Maintaining Quality HD with Reasonable File Size

I've just completed a 1/2 hour HD film (1440x1080) and I have been trying to get it to a file size that's under 2gigs. I am finding that the compressor settings either make the file size too low (degrading the picture quality), or too high (9+gigs!). Tried the h.264 LAN preset but the quality was not good enough. I want to find that sweet spot hopefully in mkv or mp4 format. Any ideas?
Thanks!
~shiva

Well, it's hard to predict what someone else will want. Your "sweet spot" is different from someone else's.
You said you wanted it under 2GB. The H.264 for LAN preset aims for 632MB per hour. Did you try increasing the bitrate? And did you make sure it was set for your full resolution, and was not scaling it down?
Jeremy

NTSC to PAL - Large file size?

Hi,
I just used compressor to transfer NTSC to PAL. I used the standard preset in compressor for PAL DV.
It is a 90 minute video and wound up being 20gb in size. When I drop the file into dvd studio it shows up as only 4.1gb (which is about the same size as the NTSC compression)
How come such a strange file size difference, and how come it doesnt show up in compressor as the 20gb size?
I'm using final cut studio

DVD SP predicts the size of your encoded movie to burn on a standard DVD. You cannot burn 20 GB on even a dual-layer DVD disk, right? So 4.1 GB is the size that will be recorded on your standard DVD disk. You can change it if you plan to burn a dual-layer one.

CBR file size shrinks

In compressor 2.3 when using cbr set at 8.3 it estimates my file size as 4.4gigs, but when it does all its magic my file size is 1.2 Gigs. HUH???
My only thought is that the video from FCP 5.1 is actually a series of pictures some of them up for a minute at a time. I know- this is not my typical project:)
my DVD looks good- not great. Any thoughts?
Thanks!

+"Or am I wrong in my understanding that VBR files are "potentially" smaller than their CBR counterparts?"+
The argument you heard was probably more like "a smaller VBR file can have equivalent audio quality to a larger CBR file." This is because, as Chris notes, they spend more bits on the more sonically complex passages, and less on the sonically simple passages.
If you want to experiment, you can compare 192 w/ VBR (it's a custom setting) versus 256 w/ CBR. But, if you are shooting for a particular file size to save space, CBR will be more predictable.
Message was edited by: ed2345

PDF File Size - any way to compress further?

We have are using the Crystal for .NET export method to export a report to a .pdf file, and are having an issue with the pdf file size on a report that contains images. The images are stored in a SQL2005 database as blob or varbinary(max). The report executes a stored procedure that selects data (including images) to produce a quotation. There are input parms to decide which images to print (for example A, B or both A&B). Both types of images can appear at the line level on the quotation. Type A images print in the main report, Type B images are in a subreport. Both the main report & subreport execute a stored procedure to select an image type.
Our issue, when both Type A and B image is selected to print on a 293 line quote. The PDF file size is 44.23MB
When Type A only is selected, the PDF file size is 2.64MB
When Type B only is selected, the PFD file size is 43.95MB.
There are more Type B images that would print at the line level than Type A, but is there any way to compress this down further as it is too large to email.

You mention that you are using Crystal for .NET, but not what version; CR for .NET 2003, 2005, 2008. 2010?
Applying the latest fixes for the correct version of CR would be the first thing to do.
Next, I'd have a close look at image B as it appears to be the one adding the most "bulk". How is this image different from image A?
General tips re. images:
Save the files a BMPs.
When .jpg image is inserted into Crystal Reports it is converted into bitmap format and as the result of the conversion the report may loose some quality, scale and other issues may arise... E.g.; Crystal Reports is not so good a graphics management tool
When an image is saved as a .bmp, then there is no conversion required and thus the quality of the image should be preserved.
Best practice: save the image with high resolution and required size as a .bmp format then insert this image into Crystal Reports.
Resize the image to the smallest possible size and downgrade the DPI to 72. This will ensure your image is as small as possible and Crystal Reports will have to put in the least amount of work to display it.
Have a look ar KB [1241630 - Exporting a Crystal report (XI) to PDF generates a big PDF file|http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/servlet/prt/portal/prtroot/com.sap.km.cm.docs/oss_notes_boj/sdn_oss_boj_bi/sap(bD1lbiZjPTAwMQ==)/bc/bsp/spn/scn_bosap/notes%7B6163636573733d36393736354636443646363436353344333933393338323636393736354637333631373036453646373436353733354636453735364436323635373233443330333033303331333233343331333633333330%7D.do]. This KB, may apply to your version of CR, or not. In any case, you will have to use the KB as a guide and determine what the appropriate registry entry would be for your version of CR.
One more thing. Many people like to use jpg files as they are smaller than bmp files. However, as far as Crystal Reports is concerned, this is inconsequential. The report file will be the same size if a file is inserted as a jpg or a bmp. This is due to the jpg conversion to bmp Crystal Reports does internally.
Ludek
Follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/SAPCRNetSup
Got Enhancement ideas? Try the [SAP Idea Place|https://ideas.sap.com/community/products_and_solutions/crystalreports]

How can I use one background jpeg in my ebook without a large file size

I'm guessing that by simply adding a background image or watermark by default adds a separate copy to each page. Since I am intending for them to be the same on all pages except for the title page, how do I shrink the final file size of my PDF eBooks so that the image is stored once but shown on all pages?
Thanks in advance.

Thank you, I understand, yeah, I knew that, my phone is factory unlocked and I am going home, which is obviously not in the States and I am thinking of buying a local carrier there. However, I still have 2 weeks before I leave and cannnot wait to start using my Iphone 4. I thought at least I could use the mp3 player function. So as far as I understand, I cannot activate it without a sim card. I have been using metropcs for about two years and it does not have a sim card. In this case, do I really not have another choice but wait for two weeks to listen to music? My Mp3 player just failed me and I really need to listen to music but on the other hand, while I can use my iphone as an mp3 player in two weeks, I don't want to spend more money on a new one. So, do you have another suggestion? For instance, can I use a friend's sim card to activate mine? Would this cause any trouble, when I go home and buy a local carrier? I think these questions might kinda sound weird to you, but first time with an Iphone, extremely excited to start using under my circumstances, I need help thanks,

A simple and free way of reducing PDF file size using Preview

Note: this is a copy and update of a 5 year old discussion in the Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard discussions which you can find here: https://discussions.apple.com/message/6109398#6109398
This is a simple and free solution I found to reduce the file size of PDFs in OS X, without the high cost and awful UI of Acrobat Pro, and with acceptable quality. I still use it every day, although I have Acrobat Pro as part of Adove Creative Cloud subscription.
Since quite a few people have found it useful and keep asking questions about the download location and destination of the filters, which have changed since 2007, I decided to write this update, and put it in this more current forum.
Here is how to install it:
Download the filters here: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/41548940/PDF%20compression%20filters%20%28Un zip%20and%20put%20in%20your%20Library%20folder%29.zip
Unzip the downloaded file and copy the filters in the appropriate location (see below).
Here is the appropriate location for the filters:
This assumes that your startup disk's name is "Macintosh HD". If it is different, just replace "Macintosh HD" with the name of your startup disk.
If you are running Lion or Mountain Lion (OS X 10.7.x or 10.8.x) then you should put the downloaded filters in "Macintosh HD/Library/PDF Services". This folder should already exist and contain files. Once you put the downloaded filters there, you should have for example one file with the following path:
"Macintosh HD/Library/PDF Services/Reduce to 150 dpi average quality - STANDARD COMPRESSION.qfilter"
If you are running an earlier vesion of OS X (10.6.x or earlier), then you should put the downloaded filters in "Macintosh HD/Library/Filters" and you should have for example one file with the following path:
"Macintosh HD/Library/Filters/Reduce to 150 dpi average quality - STANDARD COMPRESSION.qfilter"
Here is how to use it:
Open a PDF file using Apple's Preview app,
Choose Export (or Save As if you have on older version of Mac OS X) in the File menu,
Choose PDF as a format
In the "Quartz Filter" drop-down menu, choose a filter "Reduce to xxx dpi yyy quality"; "Reduce to 150 dpi average quality - STANDARD COMPRESSION" is a good trade-off between quality and file size
Here is how it works:
These are Quartz filters made with Apple Colorsinc Utility.
They do two things:
downsample images contained in a PDF to a target density such as 150 dpi,
enable JPEG compression for those images with a low or medium setting.
Which files does it work with?
It works with most PDF files. However:
It will generally work very well on unoptimized files such as scans made with the OS X scanning utility or PDFs produced via OS X printing dialog.
It will not further compress well-optimized (comrpessed) files and might create bigger files than the originals,
For some files it will create larger files than the originals. This can happen in particular when a PDF file contains other optomizations than image compression. There also seems to be a bug (reported to Apple) where in certain circumstances images in the target PDF are not JPEG compressed.
What to do if it does not work for a file (target PDF is too big or even larger than the original PDF)?
First,a good news: since you used a Save As or Export command, the original PDF is untouched.
You can try another filter for a smaller size at the expense of quality.
The year being 2013, it is now quite easy to send large files through the internet using Dropbox, yousendit.com, wetransfer.com etc. and you can use these services to send your original PDF file.
There are other ways of reducing the size of a PDF file, such as apps in the Mac App store, or online services such as the free and simple http://smallpdf.com
What else?
Feel free to use/distribute/package in any way you like.

Thanks ioscar.
The original link should be back online soon.
I believe this is a Dropbox error about the traffic generated by my Dropbox shared links.
I use Dropbox mainly for my business and I am pretty upset by this situation.
Since the filters themsemves are about 5KB, I doubt they are the cause for this Dropbox misbehavior!
Anyway, I submitted a support ticket to Dropbox, and hope everything will be back to normal very soon.
In the meantime, if you get the same error as ioscar when trying to download them, you can use the link in the blog posting he mentions.
This is out of topic, but for those interested, here is my understanding of what happened with Dropbox.
I did a few tests yesterday with large (up to 4GB) files and Dropbox shared links, trying to find the best way to send a 3 hour recording from French TV - French version of The Voice- to a friend's 5 year old son currently on vacation in Florida, and without access to French live or catch up TV services. One nice thing I found is that you can directly send the Dropbox download URL (the one from the Download button on the shared link page) to an AppleTV using AirFlick and it works well even for files with a large bitrate (except of course for the Dropbox maximum bandwidth per day limit!). Sadly, my Dropbox shared links were disabled before I could send anything to my friend.
I may have used a significant amount of bandwidth but nowhere near the 200GB/day limit of my Dropbox Pro account.
I see 2 possible reasons to Dropbox freaking out:
- My Dropbox Pro account is wronngly identified as a free account by Dropbox. Free Dropbox accounts have a 20GB/day limit, and it is possible that I reached this limit with my testing, I have a fast 200Mb/s internet access.
- Or Dropbox miscalculates used bandwidth, counting the total size of the file for every download begun, and I started a lot of downloads, and skipped to the end of the video a lot of times on my Apple TV.

My premiere project file size just went from 190MB to 5.61GB... and now it won't open! Anyone know how this happened?

My premiere project file size just went from 190MB to 5.61GB... and now it won't open! Anyone know how this happened? Or how to prevent it from happening again? Thankfully I saved a backup project of the 190MB file size.

warp stabiliser?

Is the file size of a selected image shown on Adobe Bridge CC 2014? If so, where?

Is the file size of a selected image among the filter categories? Or anywhere else? I know I can find it in Photoshop, but that is cumbersome.

The file size is shown in the Metadata panel.
You can not filter on file size but you can sort by file size.

Predicting File Size

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