Video has become an integral part of our daily lives for personal and business use. It can take many forms such as presentations, personal messages, vlogs, tutorials, testimonials, interviews, ads, and product information. Mobile video consumption rises by 100 percent every year. It has become as convenient to make a quick video on a mobile device as it is to send an email. This has fostered a new technical challenge for consumers – the management of large, unwieldy digital files. The solution lies in knowing how to compress mp4 video files.

What Are MP4 Files?

An mp4 file is a digital container that stores video and audio data. It can also store still images and photographs, and text, such as subtitles. It is basically a file that is a repository for a lot of information. It is a popular way to make and stream videos because the video size is much smaller than other formats. It uses high-compress technology that preserves the original quality of the video.

Mp4 is an abbreviation for MPEG-4 Part 14. MPEG refers to the Moving Pictures Experts Group, an alliance of the International Organization of Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). The mp4 format was released in 2003 as a portable and network-friendly video format.

Why to Compress MP4 Files

Even though the data contained in mp4 files are already compressed, they are very large files. To compress mp4 files is to make them more manageable. Driven by the development of the Internet, computer scientists constantly work at creating improved compress schemes that reduce file sizes as much as possible. There are several advantages to compressing mp4 files:

  • Cut back on the amount of space required to store the videos
  • Free up space on a hard drive, web server or mobile device
  • Reduce the amount of time it takes to send a video file over the Internet
  • Added convenience for attaching videos to emails
  • Stay under email data limits for attachments
  • Faster uploading and downloading speeds
  • Decrease the load on the bandwidth
  • Lower the cost of Internet service
  • Archive and backup files
  • Higher quality video streaming over the Internet or through digital television

How To Compress MP4 Files

There is more than one way to compress mp4 videos for storing or sending. Certain methods appear to be practical, but in the long run the quality of the video is compromised. Video sizes range from low (up to 360 pixels) to normal (up to 720 pixels) to higher (up to 1080 pixels) and beyond. Pixels refer to the number of dots of color illumination on a display screen, so the lower the pixels, the less defined (fuzzier) the picture will be on the video.

Another option is to upload your video to a video editor and crop out some sections, decreasing the size of the file. This strategy requires effort and expertise in video editing.

How to compress mp4 files easily without sacrificing the quality of the video? It is simple — zip them up! By using the right file-compressing utility, you can, with a few quick clicks, "zip" up your video to reduce the size.

How to Compress MP4 Files in WinZip

From File Explorer:

  1. From your File Explorer select all of the files you want to compress.
  2. Right-click on the selected files. WinZip > Add/Move to Zip File… This will open WinZip with options about how you want your file zipped.
  3. Select your file options, like name, location, encryption, and any other features you want to include.
  4. Select Add. This will create a zip file in the location you selected containing all your files.

From within WinZip:

  1. From within WinZip, locate the files you want to zip using the panel on the left.
  2. Select all of the files you want to compress.
  3. Select the Add to Zip button at the bottom of the left panel.
  4. After you add all of the files you want to the Zip file, select the "Save as" button in the right bottom corner. Name your file and select save.

Note: Certain file types do not compress as much as others. You must have WinZip installed on your computer to use these methods.

Conclusion

Video files can take up 10 MB for a one-minute video to over 100 MB for a video a few minutes in length. This type of concentrated data is cumbersome to store and send over the Internet. WinZip is a file compressing-utility that gives all the advantages of a professional-grade digital tool while simplifying the process to compress video mp4 files. It allows you to compress, protect, manage and share your large files. It is the one-stop file manager that keeps you plugged into the world of video. Start your free trial today!

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