How to Compress Video With Avidemux

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Avidemux, a free, open-source video editor, can perform a variety of simple video editing tasks, including compressing videos. You can load a video into Avidemux, select a new codec and set a desired file size. Avidemux re-encodes your video into the new codec, shrinking it to the desired file size so you can fit it on a CD or other removable device, or even send it over the Internet. The compressed video file won't be as high-quality as the original video file, since it's being re-encoded.

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Step 1

Open a video file in Avidemux by clicking the "File" menu and clicking "Open," then browsing to the video file on your computer and double-clicking it.

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Step 2

Click the drop-down box reading "Copy" under Video in the sidebar and select a video codec such as "H.264" from the list.

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Step 3

Click the "Configure" button in the Video section.

Step 4

Click the "Encoding Mode" drop-down box and select "Two Pass - Video Size" in the list.

Step 5

Type the size you want the compressed video to be in megabytes into the "Target Video Size (MB)" box.

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Step 6

Click "OK."

Step 7

Click the "File" menu, point to "Save" and select "Save Video."

Step 8

Type a name for the compressed video file and click "Save."

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