Converting files by output size?

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miklos
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Mar 30, 2017 5:13 pm

Converting files by output size?

Post by miklos »

Mac High Sierra 10.13.4
Handbrake 1.1.0


I am loving the new Handbrake layout.

Just wondered if in its new format allowance has been made for Handbrake to determine the file's output size when converting a file (mkv) to (mp4). Previously it was always a bit of hit & miss and trial by error.
Sometimes I want to reduce an mkv file to a set size.

This might not be the best forum since it would apply to all platforms and not just Mac.

Cheers :-)
Woodstock
Veteran User
Posts: 4614
Joined: Tue Aug 27, 2013 6:39 am

Re: Converting files by output size?

Post by Woodstock »

You cannot reliably determine the output size without scanning the source. This is why bit-rate limited encodes do two passes.

When you are constrained to a particular size, you can use a bit rate calculator (there are a lot of them on internet) to convert the length (time) of the video and your desired size into a target bit rate, then do a two-pass encode with that bit rate as the maximum.

Really old versions of handbrake tried estimating output file size - that was removed because it was rarely accurate, and people complained about the inaccuracies.
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