I recently got Sony Vegas Pro, and I was just wondering when I render a video, does it make the file size of the video smaller?

Question

I recently got Sony Vegas Pro, and I was just wondering when I render a video, does it make the file size of the video smaller?

Answer 1

What rendering does is output a single video file, as opposed to the separate clips and settings. The finished size varies depending on what video dimensions and codecs you chose. It's possible for the video to be a much larger filesize if you chose poorly.



Generally, your rendered video should be of comparable size to your original clips if they were captured with camcorders. If you used screen capture software such as FRAPS, the rendered video will often be much smaller in filesize.



Filesize can also be reduced if you scale down from large formats like 1080p HD to smaller formats like 480i SD or 720p HD.

Answer 2

That depends entirely on the choices you make when you render the video. You can easily go either way, larger or smaller, with a few clicks of the mouse. That is one of the reasons that you have to understand what those choices mean to your final product.

Answer 3

If you render a video with no changes like transitions, effects (FX), text & such, in the same size (say it's a 5 minute 1920x1080 mp4) it will probably be larger than the original.



I best like for YT uploading to:

1. Render the video with whatever "edits" you have in place.

2. Use the www.freemake.com converter to convert the clip to the mp4 in the same size as the original.



I had a 4GB rendered video that converted the mp4 to mp4 all the way down to under 700mb, which was so great. When playing them out side by side, the quality looked identical to the original. The converter also works well if you have some stubborn video clip that won't drop in the timeline, on occasion I get an AVI that won't drop in & after converting it to mp4, it drops right in. It usually shrinks down the file size as well. But if you're uploading whatever your video rendered projects are to YT, I'd convert every one of them using that converter since it shrinks it down to a reasonable size rather than the huge size. Unless of course you have an unlimited internet data plan with high speed & this doesn't matter to you. It also saves space on your HD or external HD if you keep the conversions & delete the originals. :0)



I also best prefer to render (for YT uploading) the MainConcept AAC/AVC Internet HD mp4 in the same size as your original vid(s) or smaller at the minimum HD 1280x720.



SYS RESTORE

First, go to your control panel & make a new system restore point so you have the option to undo everything for any reason.



Since SVP uses whatever audio & video codecs you have that came with your computer, I would also download the free k-lite codecs pack to expand that list. It does help if you plan to do lots of video editing.



FREE CODECS PACK

It's free to DL & don't worry you won't get the bait & switch where you are tricked to install additional junk SW, but it does come with that MPC, it has terrific customization settings options. Not only do I prefer this over Win. MP, but also I like it better than the VLC media plyr. I had.

DL the codec pack free here:

http://www.codecguide.com/



I would also change your default virtual memory settings on your computer, it really does help SVP to work faster & better overall.



VIRTUAL MEM settings

a) Change the virtual memory default settings to "Best Performance."

b) Customize the default settings in the "Performance Options" & manually reset them.



a

In Control Panel, type in "System" & select it.

On the left, select, "advanced system settings."

In the Advanced tab, under "Performance" select "settings."

Change it to "Adjust for best performance."

Don't close this yet.



b

Go to the advanced tab here in the Performance Options. Keep this open & go to your web browser to do a search, go to YT.

Type in the search "how to change my virtual memory settings in Windows 8" (or whatever version you have) & follow along to change the default settings to custom.



UNDOCK YOUR VIDEO PREVIEW WINDOW

I didn't figure this out until working in SVP for over a year & WISHED SOMEone had told me this. Un-docking the vid. Preview window makes working in SVP SO MUCH nicer.



1. Resize the SVP to the left half of your comp. screen.

2. Find the X in the top corner of your video preview window & beneath this you see a vertical lineup of dots. Mouse over them & hold down the left-click & mouse drag it all the way over to the top right corner of your comp. screen. When it freaks out docking & undocking, force it up to the top edge/corner until it stops, then let go of the left click & resize it so you see both the tabs & timeline on the left with the perfectly resized position of the Vid Preview window on the right.



Be sure after making all the changes to restart your computer.



PS - If ever you're getting a laptop replacement, I'd try to get a larger display screen like 17" or larger. Makes video editing & movie watching SO much nicer as well.



PS - Another little trick I learned is to take a project that has lots of edits & open a blank new project, drop in the rendered large video & re-render this. It can make it much smaller in file size because the one with edits is naturally larger because you did so much. The newly dropped in video is only one clip rather than hundreds. THEN take that re-render & convert it with the free conv. sw. By the time this is completed, you have the best quality you want with the smallest possible file size friendly for YT uploading as well.

I hope this is helpful :0)

Answer 4

it can.