How to Compress a 4K Video with Filmora9 and Send it Over the Internet

Today 4K resolution (3840 × 2160 pixels) has become enormously popular, and we can already find video cameras and even SLR cameras that record in this resolution, and not only high-end ones. The same happens with smartphones and tablets, nowadays it is very normal for our mobiles to record in this resolution. The downside is that the video bitrate at this resolution can be quite high, so the file size can be several GB if you record for a few minutes. If you want to send this type of video over the Internet, it is highly recommended to compress the 4K video with programs like Filmora9 , so that the resulting file is smaller and more manageable.

Option 1: Compress 4K video

The first thing we can do to lower the final size of the video in 4K resolution is to compress it with a video editor , logically, the quality will not be exactly the same as the original video, but it is true that the quality is still outstanding. If you want to send videos over the Internet and maintain 4K resolution, compressing the videos is almost mandatory.

There are several methods to compress videos in 4K resolution, the most recommended of which is to use the new H.265 video codec. This new video codec has some really interesting characteristics, and that is that it reduces around half (between 40% and 50% approximately) the bitrate that a video needs, and all this without having an appreciable loss of quality, therefore , we will be half the size of a video with an H.264 codec. Another very interesting feature of this video codec is that it not only supports 4K resolution, but also Full HD 1080p resolution and even supports up to 8K, ideal for what is to come.

The Filmora9 video editor allows us to work with videos in 4K resolution, and allows us to compress them without losing quality while making use of the H.265 codec, which is much more efficient than the previous H.264 that we usually use. Other interesting features of this video editing program are the following:

  • Allows you to add a total of 100 tracks to create your own video.
  • We can create effects by composing clips, one on top of the other, and, in addition, we can also use the green screen to have the best effects.
  • Edit the audio of the video by eliminating noise, in addition, it also allows to have an audio equalizer.
  • Filmora9 is specifically designed to make your 4K resolution content look really sharp.
  • We can use proxy files to edit with a lower resolution and that everything goes more fluid, later when exporting the video, the resolution will be the one we set.

Filmora9 is available for both Windows operating systems (Win10 / Win8 / Win7, all of them 64-bit) as well as for Mac OS. To export a video in 4K resolution with the H.265 codec, it is really easy, we just have to add the video from “File / Media”, once we have imported it, we will have to press “Insert” to start editing it If you do not need any type of editing, you can click directly on “Export” in the upper bar.

When we go to export the file, we can do it in a large number of video formats, and we can also configure the different resolutions, specifically, we can choose between all these formats:

  • MP4
  • WMV
  • AVI
  • MOV
  • F4V
  • MKV
  • TS
  • 3GP
  • MPEG-2
  • WEBM
  • GIF
  • MP3

The most typical formats for videos is MKV and also MP4, within each format, we can use a certain video codec, it is advisable to choose H.265 since it has a much better compression without losing quality.

By clicking on “Settings”, just to the right of the resolution, we can configure the output resolution, the video codec and other available options such as the bitrate.

If we want to use a certain video on a device, we can click on “Device” and choose the format we want, the options are the default so that the video quality is optimal when we reproduce it on these media.

As you have seen, it is really easy to compress a video in 4K resolution with this Filmora9 program. If it is still too large to send over the Internet, then you will need to lower the resolution of the video.

Option 2: Lower the resolution to 1080p or 720p

The second option to compress a video and make its final size significantly smaller is by reducing the resolution of the video to Full HD 1080p or 720p format. With these resolutions your video will also look very good and very sharp, as long as you are not going to play them on very large TV screens.

By lowering the resolution from 4K to Full HD, the video size will be reduced considerably, also, remember that you can also use the H.265 video codec to further compress the final file size, of course, you can also lower the Bitrate the video to fit the maximum size you need.

Filmora9 is a very interesting all-in-one for editing video in 4K resolution, because it has the main features of any video editor, but with a very intuitive, fast and friendly graphical user interface, also when exporting videos We don’t have too many technical details, ideal for the most inexperienced users who simply want to compress a video and send it over the Internet.