Reduce video file size

View Markdown

“Capsule” (a testimonial video app like Loom) collects video from customers. Raw uploads are often 500MB+ for a 2-minute recording. Compress them without visible quality loss.

Quick compression

API

ittybit video \
  -i https://capsule-app.com/uploads/testimonial.mov \
  --quality medium \
  --format mp4

const task = {
  input: 'https://capsule-app.com/uploads/testimonial.mov',
  kind: 'video',
  options: {
    quality: 'medium',
    format: 'mp4',
  },
};

const res = await fetch('https://api.ittybit.com/jobs', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.ITTYBIT_API_KEY}`,
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
  },
  body: JSON.stringify(task),
});
const data = await res.json();

import requests

task = {
    "input": "https://capsule-app.com/uploads/testimonial.mov",
    "kind": "video",
    "options": {
        "quality": "medium",
        "format": "mp4",
    },
}

res = requests.post(
    "https://api.ittybit.com/jobs",
    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {api_key}"},
    json=task,
)
data = res.json()

TASK='{
  "input": "https://capsule-app.com/uploads/testimonial.mov",
  "kind": "video",
  "options": {
    "quality": "medium",
    "format": "mp4"
  }
}'

curl -X POST https://api.ittybit.com/jobs \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ITTYBIT_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "$TASK"

CLI

ittybit video \
  -i testimonial.mov \
  -o testimonial.mp4 \
  --quality medium

Compression levers

You have three ways to reduce file size, and they stack:

1. Quality

ittybit video \
  -i input.mov \
  -o output.mp4 \
  --quality medium

Quality	Typical reduction	Visible difference
`high`	~50%	None
`medium`	~75%	Barely noticeable
`low`	~85%	Noticeable on close inspection
`very_low`	~90%	Obvious, fine for previews

2. Resolution

ittybit video \
  -i input.mov \
  -o output.mp4 \
  --width 1280 \
  --quality medium

Downscaling from 4K to 1280px wide cuts file size dramatically.

3. Codec

ittybit video \
  -i input.mov \
  -o output.mp4 \
  --codec av1 \
  --quality medium

AV1 produces ~40% smaller files than h264 at the same visual quality. See Encode video with AV1.

Combine all three

ittybit video \
  -i testimonial.mov \
  -o testimonial.mp4 \
  --width 1280 \
  --codec av1 \
  --quality medium

A 500MB 4K MOV becomes a ~15MB 720p AV1 MP4.