Compressing Internet Video as Xvid Using VirtualDub

First of all I must thank Toni Jovanovski for giving me all the information and plug-ins necessary to complete the following.

This tutorial is aimed at people who want to compress video for the Internet, while maintaining a high level of image-quality. The compression settings used in this tutorial will create file-sizes that are acceptable for download by broadband users however I am sure that by playing with these settings, an acceptable file-size to image-quality compromise could be made to please those with dialup.

The tutorial will begin by explaining the export settings required from Adobe Premiere to work in VirtualDub. I have not tested importing uncompressed footage to VirtualDub from other editing programs.

Files to download

All files (2,076kb) (.zip)

Installation

  1. Install VirtualDub.
  2. Place Smart resize.vdf and Smart deinterlace.vdf in the extracted VirtualDub > plugins folder.
  3. Install the XviD codec.

Example

Tutorial.avi - (879kb) Save and then play with VLC Player.

Tutorial

Premiere

  1. Complete video to export from Adobe Premiere.
  2. Export by selecting File > Export Timeline > Movie…
  3. Create a title for your uncompressed video and click the Settings button.
  4. From the File Type drop list, select Microsoft AVI. Refer to below image. Selecting Microsoft DV AVI will fail in VirtualDub.

  5. Click Next.
  6. From the Compressor drop list, select None.
  7. Make sure the Depth is set to Millions or Millions+ so that the output quality is as high as possible.
  8. Check that the frame size and audio settings match your import settings.
  9. Click OK.
  10. Save the file and wait for it to encode.

VirtualDub

  1. Open up VirtualDub
  2. Open your recently exported video by selecting File > Open video file…
  3. Select Video > Compression… Refer to below image.

  4. Find the XviD MPEG-4 Codec from the list and select it.
  5. Click Configure. Refer to below image.

  6. The XviD Configuration window will appear. Click Advanced Options…
  7. The Motion options will appear. Make the settings the same as they are in the below image.

  8. Select the Quantization tab and match the settings to the ones in the above image.
  9. Click OK.
  10. Click OK.
  11. Click OK.
  12. Select Video > Filters…
  13. Click Add…
  14. You may have to click Load... to locate the two filters you placed in the VirtualDub > Plugins folder.
  15. Once both filters are added to the list, select smart deinterlace (2.8 beta 1).
  16. Click OK.
  17. Click OK.
  18. Click Add…
  19. Select smart resize (1.1).
  20. Click Add…
  21. Change the New width to 640. Change the New height to 480.
  22. Change the Filter mode to Precise bicubic. Refer to below image.

  23. Click OK.
  24. Click OK.
  25. Select Audio > Full Processing Mode.
  26. The window will disappear.
  27. Select Audio > Compression…
  28. Select MPEG Layer-3 from the list.
  29. Choose a compression rate that you think applies to your video. I have chosen 24000 Hz, 56kbps, Stereo. Refer to below image.

  30. Click OK.
  31. Select File > Save as AVI…
  32. Type in a file name.
  33. Click Save.