Question / Help Huge file sizes. A 6 minute video turned out to be 1.3GB. I won't be able to record content if the files are this huge.

[Eldyy]

I'm recording in 1080p 60fps.

Here is the full log: https://hastebin.com/idoyovinag

How can I reduce file sizes without sacrificing quality? I need 30k bitrate. I tried reducing it to 20k and the quality just dropped like a brick. Even with 30k once I compress the file with handbrake the quality also drops. What am I doing to make the file size so big? I saw somebody saying something about getting 10mb a minute with 1080p 60 fps full HD crisp quality and all.. how tf?

Thanks in advance :)

 

[carlmmii]

30,000kbps = ~30Mbps = 3.66MB/s
3.66MB/s * 60min/s * 6min = 1.29GB
That's the math.

For 10mb a minute... that's only 1365kbps. Whoever is saying that is NOT getting crisp quality full HD.

The only way to have better quality for the same bitrate is to use a higher quality encoding process. For x264, this means using a slower cpu preset, as well as other tweaks (there are too many to list, but they all take a backseat to the preset quality). Past that, you would have to be looking at HEVC for better quality encoding, which OBS doesn't yet support.

 

[Eldyy]

30,000kbps = ~30Mbps = 3.66MB/s
3.66MB/s * 60min/s * 6min = 1.29GB
That's the math.

For 10mb a minute... that's only 1365kbps. Whoever is saying that is NOT getting crisp quality full HD.

The only way to have better quality for the same bitrate is to use a higher quality encoding process. For x264, this means using a slower cpu preset, as well as other tweaks (there are too many to list, but they all take a backseat to the preset quality). Past that, you would have to be looking at HEVC for better quality encoding, which OBS doesn't yet support.

So basically I just have to deal with large file sizes? I mean is 1.3GB considered high for 6 mins? Obviously I'm not a professional content creator as I've barely even started but how big would, say, a 6 minute clip from somebody like SwaggerSouls or Fitz be? They seem to record at near perfect quality. It looks like you're playing the game yourself almost..

 

[carlmmii]

Not sure who either of those people are, but if you're going for that level of quality... yup. That's what you're looking at. If you're just going for twitch quality, then you're only talking 6000kbps because of their own limitations... but for something like youtube, 30Mbps is fairly reasonable.

A lot of professional creators use mass storage arrays for video storage. It's not a cheap thing. Especially if you're going for archival as well.

 

[koala]

If you record and not streaming, don't use CBR as rate control. Use one of the quality-based rate control settings like CQP, CRF or ICQ (depends on the encoder). They go along with a quality value of 1..50, where 1=nearly lossless and 50=very lossy. The sweet spot is usually 15-20. With these rate controls, quality is the same regardless of motion, and the bitrate is dynamically adapted to the required value needed to encode given quality. Thus, disk space is not wasted for low motion scenes as with CBR mode, and more space is taken where it is necessary (high motion scenes).

An overall bitrate of 30000 for 1060p@60 recording, even for CQP/CRF/ICQ averaged, is not unusual for good quality that is used as input for postprocessing. The file size is expected.

 

[Eldyy]

If you record and not streaming, don't use CBR as rate control. Use one of the quality-based rate control settings like CQP, CRF or ICQ (depends on the encoder). They go along with a quality value of 1..50, where 1=nearly lossless and 50=very lossy. The sweet spot is usually 15-20. With these rate controls, quality is the same regardless of motion, and the bitrate is dynamically adapted to the required value needed to encode given quality. Thus, disk space is not wasted for low motion scenes as with CBR mode, and more space is taken where it is necessary (high motion scenes).

An overall bitrate of 30000 for 1060p@60 recording, even for CQP/CRF/ICQ averaged, is not unusual for good quality that is used as input for postprocessing. The file size is expected.

I'm going to try the CRF encoder. I experimented with the CQP a little bit yesterday and a 1 minute clip was 3.6GB. Not gonna happen lol

 

[Narcogen]

CRF isn't a different encoder, it's just a different term for a quality setting-- file sizes using that are not going to be radically different. As koala wrote, those file sizes are well within the range of normal for good quality recordings, and the "10 mb a minute" figure you mentioned is pure fantasy.

 

[koala]

If you got a 3.6 GB video with CQP, increase the CQP value by 3. The file size will be half. At a step of about 3, filesize doubles/halves for the quality-based rate controls. Usually, you want to use the highest value you feel the quality is just good enough for further use. And CQP=18 isn't the same quality as CRF=18 - every encoder does have a slightly different understanding what quality means.

"Good quality" for recording and suitable for postprocessing means in general, you are not able to see encoding artifacts and cannot distinguish between the game itself and the recording of the game. In simple output mode of OBS, this is achieved by using "Indistinguishable Quality, Large File Size" as recording quality for recording. Try it, it's by far the most easy configuration of OBS while producing perfect quality.

Why you should try to use the best possible quality for footage you intend to postprocess: Every edit, every thing you do in a video editor, increases the compression artifacts and distortion of the video. Thus, you want to start with raw footage that contains the least distortion possible in the first place.

 

[AirSquareUnoffical]

NVENC also sends file sizes sky high - even 1,000MB+ per min. It's better for streaming.

 

[R1CH]

The encoder has no effect on bitrate. This is entirely under your control, set an appropriate CQP / CRF or bitrate and you get the exact size you want.

 

[Disclosure Tv]

I'm recording in 1080p 60fps.

Here is the full log: https://hastebin.com/idoyovinag

How can I reduce file sizes without sacrificing quality? I need 30k bitrate. I tried reducing it to 20k and the quality just dropped like a brick. Even with 30k once I compress the file with handbrake the quality also drops. What am I doing to make the file size so big? I saw somebody saying something about getting 10mb a minute with 1080p 60 fps full HD crisp quality and all.. how tf?

Thanks in advance :)

It seems like you are recording/streaming in the .MKV file type. MKV produces very large files because of its unlimited capability. MKV is usually meant for larger media(movies, ect) which can accept a lot of other types of media attached with it. Like multiple subtitles(SRT), multiple audio tracks, multiple video tracks, surround sound so on and so forth. So Try switching your file type to an MP4 if your streaming. Its a way smaller file size. But OBS will warn you that if you are recording in mp4, (RECORDED not streamed) it cant be recovered it the program suddenly quits or your computer crashes. If your streaming then that's ok because your footage is being saved by the streaming platform as it comes thru. But if your just recording and something happens then it wont be saved. And if I record using MP4 i just record in small takes anyway. Don't be confused by what i said. if your recording an MP4 file and you hit the stop recording button it will save. Its only if the recording is interrupted that it fails to save. So yeah try MP4 out. See how that works.

 

[koala]

You seem to have a slight misunderstanding about mp4 and mkv file format, @Disclosure Tv. The file format (or "container format") is just the envelope for the actual data. The file size is determined by the actual data, not by the file format. More specifically, the encoder settings determine the file size. The container format only determines which encoders can be put into the file. There is a vast number of encoders for video as well as for audio, and mkv can contain them all, while mp4 can only contain a small subset. This is the real difference between mkv and mp4.
But this difference is not relevant for OBS, since OBS always produces h.264 encoded video and aac encoded audio, and these two encoders can both be stored in mkv as well as mp4.

 

[bdogCat]

30,000kbps = ~30Mbps = 3.66MB/s
3.66MB/s * 60min/s * 6min = 1.29GB
That's the math.

For 10mb a minute... that's only 1365kbps. Whoever is saying that is NOT getting crisp quality full HD.

The only way to have better quality for the same bitrate is to use a higher quality encoding process. For x264, this means using a slower cpu preset, as well as other tweaks (there are too many to list, but they all take a backseat to the preset quality). Past that, you would have to be looking at HEVC for better quality encoding, which OBS doesn't yet support.

very helpful thank you!