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Help Screenflow Video File Size Too Big

by Ishan Soni
16 replies
Hey,

I just recorded a 86 minute training video using Screen Flow (First time I've used it on my new macbook pro!).

So this 86 minute video is a screen capture video with a powerpoint presentation going on...

The project is freaking 6 GB!

And when I exported it it was like 1.2 GB or something ridiculous.

Please tell me how I can reduce this size.. Or else, my amazon s3 bill will kill me lol

86 minute video should be like 100 MB - 500 MB max...

In addition, I'm creating 8 modules which are going to be 60-90 min long too.

Please help?.

How do I keep the quality HIGH and still have a small file size?

I'm thinking of recording the training with GoToWebinar's recording. (Host a webinar with no attendees, click the record button and GO). The size is like ridiculously small (100 MB ish!) But really, is this the best way?

- Ishan
#big #file #screenflow #size #video
  • Profile picture of the author Rich Struck
    Originally Posted by Ishan Soni View Post

    How do I keep the quality HIGH and still have a small file size?
    You have to pick one or the other I think. About all you can really do is mess around with the export settings and see what happens. I usually export my movies using the export --> web-high setting but most of the other settings produce good results too. You just have to experiment a bit.

    BTW... You might want to consider breaking the movies up so they aren't so long. Nobody is going to sit through an 86 minute online movie.
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  • Profile picture of the author LondonPaladin
    We really need more information. What format did you export into? It sounds like you left the settings at HD quality. A normal 90 min movies can be about 750mb if you leave it at around 1280 resolution. Double the resolution and double the file size.

    What codec are you using?
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  • Profile picture of the author sirdonkeypunch
    you can most likely open it in any video editor and when you go to save, save it with a higher compression ratio. the video might not be crystal clear hi-definition, but it will make your video a bit smaller
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  • Profile picture of the author Ishan Soni
    Its a training video guys. Like a course so obviously the time is going to be alot.

    I just used screenflow to record audio with screen capture, and I'm exporting in .mov format.

    I am just using screenflow. No additional codecs. OR maybe i am? How can I find it?

    Thanks for your help by the way guys, I wanna get this project done ASAP.
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  • Profile picture of the author spearce000
    First of all, I think 86 minutes is waaaaay too long for a training video. Peoples' attention will start to wander after 20 mins, and you would have lost them completely by half an hour.

    If I were you, I would break it down into 4 parts of roughly equal length. That way you'll have 4 smaller files. You might also consider encoding the video into .flv format as that tends to have smaller file sizes than .mov. I'm not familiar with screenflow, so I don't know if this is possible from within the software itself, or whether you'll need to use a 3rd party converter.
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    • Profile picture of the author Kevin AKA Hubcap
      I've never used screenflow but if there's an option to export as an mp4 or flv try it. Those options should result in a smaller file size.

      also...

      break up that 86 minute video into smaller chunks... say around 20 minutes each. I don't think many people want to sit through an 86 minute training video.
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  • Profile picture of the author Peter Olson
    It could be your bitrate is way to high. If your doing a screencast, you can drop the bitrate a lot because there really isnt any high motion stuff.
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    • Profile picture of the author Steve Robertson
      ScreenFlow records your entire screen all the time. If you don't really need to see the entire screen, you can remove the unwanted screen real estate in editing. Just click on the button in the lower left of the editing interface and trim down the area covered to whatever you want. It's probably a good idea to cut your screen down to a common video size, such as 640 x 480. Or 640 x 360 for the "widescreen" look.

      Then, when you're ready to export, the only way to get complete control over file size and quality is to click on the "custom" button and gain access to all the Quicktime parameters. That's too big a subject to cover here, but one way to make your file size much smaller (without sacrificing quality) is to reduce the Frame Rate to 10 or 15 frames per second. With typical screen capture material, you can't even tell the frame rate has been reduced.

      Steve R.
      R.A.M. Video
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  • Profile picture of the author InternetM39482
    Here are some tips that may help -

    - Decrease the screen size... you can do that within Screenflow. That's if you don't require the whole screen.

    - Use Handbrake. It's free, and it allows you to set a target size. Although, if you set it too low, the quality might suffer a lot.




    Cheers,
    Swastik
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    • Profile picture of the author Marty S
      Unless your name is Frank Kern or Tony Robbins, your video is toooooo long. Only a small percentage of viewers will watch it all the way through and most will leave VERY early when they see how long the time bar is at the bottom of your video. 8-12 is good, 20 minutes would be max.

      Also the tips mentioned above for shrinking the size of your screenflow production will reduce your video size by at least half right there.
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      • Profile picture of the author Jill Carpenter
        Wayyyyy too long.

        I agree with the above - try to chop it down to smaller segments.

        Your project is 6gb because those are the raw editable source files. That is not uncommmon at all for the amount of video you shot.

        Also, what type of player are you planning to use to display these on a site?

        A lot of players don't use the .mov files. You will likely want to convert to an flv.

        Here is what I do - export to mov, use adobe flash video encoder to change format to flv, and within that I can reduce the size of the audio and bring down the quality to bring down the overall size.

        There is a frame rate in there that if you are just showing a slideshow can be brought down really low.

        Before you alter the quality, make sure you know what your final output needs to be first.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ishan Soni
    Thanks everyone for the help.

    I really do appreciate it :-).

    So are you guys saying that converting this file into a .flv will make it < 500 MB?

    As you guys suggested, I'm going to break down the video into 4 different videos, 20 minutes each or something like that.

    MAN i spent 86 minutes but looks like I'll need to do this again lol ahahah.

    Can someone recommend a good way to convert .mov to .flv? A convertor that can keep the quality really good and still be of managable size?

    Once again, thanks

    Ishan
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  • Profile picture of the author LondonPaladin
    You don't have to re-record anything. Screenflow will let you chop it into 4 parts in like 2 minutes. When you click EXPORT you can set the target screensize. Set it to 1280x800 if it's in widescreen.

    This is the biggest optimal size for youtube.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mohammad Afaq
    Just download and install virtualdub and then install the xvid codec on you computer.

    Then compress the video using virtualdub

    (Open the video in virtual dub, press Ctrl + P, Select the Xvid Codec, go to File > Save as AVI) It will decrease the video size dramatically.

    I use it to decrease the size of my video game montages

    Just PM me if you need more help
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