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I'm not a 100% sure if this is relevant to this site but its a question that i've never had answered!

What, in your opinion, is the BEST free video compression codec/software for Windows?

Something that is light on file size, but delivers in quality compared to other codecs/software?

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Hmm, i just thought of a good extension to this question, how many of this videos when compressed will play on a vanilla Windows installation? (fresh) – SevenT2 Nov 25 '09 at 5:37
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closed as not constructive by slhck, Simon Sheehan, studiohack♦ Jan 28 at 23:12

This question is not a good fit to our Q&A format. We expect answers to generally involve facts, references, or specific expertise; this question will likely solicit opinion, debate, arguments, polling, or extended discussion. See the FAQ.

6 Answers

up vote 1 down vote accepted

I much prefer x264, far better quality at the same size.

x264 is a free software library and application for encoding video streams into the H.264/MPEG-4 AVC format, and is released under the terms of the GNU GPL.

Provides best-in-class performance, compression, and features.

Achieves dramatic performance, encoding 4 or more 1080p streams in realtime on a single consumer-level computer.

Gives the best quality, having the most advanced psychovisual optimizations.

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up vote 1 down vote

Best free.... Xvid?

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up vote 1 down vote

I'm a huge fan of HuffyUV. Lossless but with really good compression rates, and incredibly fast.

Xvid and Divx are probably better "publication" codecs, but I do my whole workflow in Huffy. It's like getting to use raw video, but at a file size that won't murder your ram/swap file.

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hahaha. "Bugs: None of the bugs in Huffyuv are known to me at this time." props to the author, that's well put. – quack quixote Nov 23 '09 at 20:27
Yeah, I love that. – Electrons_Ahoy Nov 23 '09 at 21:41
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up vote 1 down vote

x264, hands down.

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up vote 1 down vote

Here's an informative chart:

enter image description here

I recommend 'Xvid' as the best all rounder although I specifically use the 'Matroska' container for HD video.

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up vote 0 down vote

Handbrake is the best video compression software, which is free of charge and has good compressed video quality.

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… except that it's not a video codec. – slhck Jan 28 at 23:14
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