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If you are making lots of videos and they are turning out to be quite large files that take you an age to upload, you may want to consider compressing your videos before you upload them to vzaar.

There are many compression software packages available for you to use, but we've found one that not only is very good, but is also free! It's made by Squared5. It doesn't look that pretty but it does the job brilliantly. Download the Windows version here and the Mac version here.

We've made you a video (as is our way) that runs you through how to do it. But as always we've also got you a step by step guide for good measure.


Cut out and print guide

Want some help whilst doing this yourself? Print this out and stick it next to your machine.


Compressing your video before uploading it to vzaar

You've already filmed your video and saved it on your computer. Here's how you can compress it using this easy and free tool.

Open the program, go to File -> Open Files. Select the video from your computer and click Open.

Once the video you wish to compress has been chosen follow the steps below: (You can scroll down to the bottom of the page to see the whole pictures)

    Select Export to Mpeg 4

  1. Export to MPEG 4

    • Go to File again
    • Choose Export to MPEG-4








    2. Set Quality to 70%

  2. Set Quality [a]

    • Slide the bar across to 70%










    3. Limit data rate to 700kbs

  3. Set Data Rate [b]

    • Limit the Data Rate to 700kpbs
    • This sets the amount of video information sent per second, when played.








    4. Set audio to Mono 128kbs

  4. Set Audio Quality [c]

    • Set the sound to Mono (instead of Stereo)
    • and the rate to 128kbps
    • This will simplify the sound quality and make it more suitable for online video






    5. Set height and width to 320x240

  5. Set height and width [d]

    • Set frame size to 320x240
    • This is the size of the videos on vzaar








    6. Check your estimated output size

  6. Check estimated output size [e]

    • This spot will tell you how big the file size is now
    • There's no right or wrong size but you'll probably be looking at a video between 2-10MB






    7. Click make MP4 button

  7. Click make MP4 [f]

    • Click on this button to convert and compress you file
    • Chose where to save you file
    • Rename it, so not to confuse it with your original file
    • Click Save and the program will do the rest of the hard work for you






Now you're ready to upload that new compressed video to vzaar.


See where the options (shown above) are in relation to each other in Squared 5.

    Select export to MP4 from the main menu        Options to select for video compression