Reduce video: Various options

Videos usually take up a lot of space on your hard drive. For this reason it can be useful to reduce this. Use suitable programs for this, such as the VLC player. However, it is important to note that the video loses quality when you reduce the size.

How to reduce video size

Video files require a lot of storage space. If you want to send a video as an attachment in an e-mail, archive it on your PC or even save it in a cloud, it therefore makes sense to shrink the video. You have various options to choose from for this.

• If the quality of the video is not important, change the frame rate. Adjust this, for example, in the VLC player under "Media > Convert/Save > Video Codec". This makes the video consists of fewer frames and the file size is reduced.
• Furthermore, you can change the file format if necessary. For example, MP4 is a very space-saving format. Converting the file also succeeds in the VLC player.
• Furthermore, there are also providers online where you can convert videos without installing additional software. To do this, visit a website such as Online-Umwandeln.de. Upload the video file, select MP4 as the file format and let the website reduce the video.
• If you do not want the video to lose quality and reduce this only for sending, then you can compress the file. Right-click on it and select "Send to" and then "Zip compressed folder".
• On the smartphone, you can use apps, such as "VidTrim".