Compress Screen Recording & Screen Record with Smaller File Size

Why Need to Compress Screen Recording

It is common to use a screen recorder to capture tutorials, online lectures, presentations, video conferences, and other content. You may get a large screen recording file that will consume more storage space, require higher transmission bandwidth, or can’t meet the video requirements of certain platforms.

What can you do to shrink video size? It is a good idea to use a video compressor to reduce file size. Read the following content and you’ll find a suitable way to compress screen recording files.

How to Compress a Screen Recording

In this part, we recommend 2 free and easy-to-use video compressors and show you a detailed tutorial on how to use them for screen recording compression.

#Way 1. Using MiniTool Video Converter

MiniTool Video Converter is a free video converter that is compatible with Windows 10/11. As a converter, it can convert video and audio files within minutes and supports converting audio to video and extracting audio from video. It supports a wide range of formats, such as MP4, MOV, MKV, WMV, FLV, WebM, 3GP, MP3, WMA, AAC, M4A, and more.

Furthermore, MiniTool Video Converter provides you with customizable format parameters including the encoder, resolution, frame rate, and bitrate of video, and the encoder, channel, sample rate as well as the bitrate of audio.

In addition to working as a file converter, MiniTool Video Converter can also be a video and audio compressor. By changing the video format to a compressed video format or adjusting other encoding parameters, you can compress the video to reduce its file size.

Other Main Features of MiniTool Video Converter:

• It is a batch video converter that can convert up to 5 files simultaneously.
• It supports improving video quality like improving SD to HD or 4K video conversion.
• It can work as a mobile video converter that can convert videos for mobile devices.
• It can record the full screen and selected region.
• It can record the mouse movements.
• …

How to Compress Screen Recording with MiniTool Video Converter

Step 1. Click the download button below to get and install MiniTool Video Converter on your PC.

MiniTool Video ConverterClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

Step 2. Enable MiniTool Video Converter. Under its default Video Convert tab, click the Add Files button or the Add or Drag files here to start conversion area to import your screen recording with a large file size.

Step 3. In the Target dotted box, click the diagonal arrow to open the output format window and switch to the Video option. Here’re 3 options to compress the screen recording to get a smaller file size.

Option 1. Use a lower-resolution profile.

Generally, the lower the video resolution, the smaller the video file size. You can keep the original format of the screen recording and choose a lower-resolution profile from the left panel.

Option 2. Customize a newly created format.

The main factors that affect the size of video files include its codec, frame rate, and bitrate. MiniTool Video Converter allows you to adjust those parameters. After choosing a target video format, you can click the + Create Custom option to personalize the format parameters.

In the Settings popup, you can change the encoder to more efficient video coding formats like H.265/HEVC codec and lower its video frame rate and bitrate. If your screen recording has audio, you can also change its audio bitrate, encoder as well as sample rate. Next, click the Create button and scroll down to choose the newly created format.

Option 3. Choose a compressed video format.

Video compression, including lossy compression and lossless compression, is a process of shrinking the file size of a video. Video formats using lossy compression have a smaller file size since it will discard certain information to reduce file size. MP4, WMV, FLV, WebM, or other compressed video formats have smaller file sizes. You can convert your screen recording to those lossy video formats to reduce its file size.

MiniTool Video Converter offers various output video formats. Under the Video tab, select from those compressed video formats, and select a preferred or lower resolution profile.

Later, you can check the converted file size in the Target dotted box. If you are not satisfied with the file size, you can repeat the above options until you get a satisfied file size.

Step 4. Click the pen icon behind Target, change its name, select a folder to save the recording, and click OK to save the changes.

Step 5. Click the red Convert button to start shrinking the file size of the screen recording.

Step 6. After the process is finished, you can navigate to the Converted tab and click the Show in folder button to check and locate the compressed screen recording file.

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#Way 2. Using MiniTool MovieMaker

To shrink the video file size, you can also use a video editor to remove the unwanted parts of the video. MiniTool MovieMaker is a good choice. It is a free video maker and video editor without watermarks. You can use its splitting or trimming tool to get rid of the unnecessary parts.

Also, MiniTool MovieMaker has other useful editing features to fine-tune your recordings if you want to share them on social media platforms. What’s more, it offers several popular output formats and allows you to adjust the output parameters like video quality, resolution, frame rate, etc.

Other Key Features of MiniTool MovieMaker:

• It is a photo video maker that can create video from images.
• It offers various royalty-free resources like transitions, songs, sound effects, stickers, etc.
• It can turn a video into a GIF or convert a GIF to a video.
• It enables you to change the video aspect ratio for different social media.
• It allows you to make color correction and color grading.
• It helps you add text to videos, images, and GIFs.
• It allows you to edit audio like fading music and mute audio.
• It has different types of video templates.
• It supports speeding up or slowing down videos.
• …

How to Compress Screen Recording via MiniTool MovieMaker

Step 1. Download and install MiniTool MovieMaker on your computer. Launch this program and close its promotion window.

MiniTool MovieMakerClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

Step 2. Under the Media tab, click the Import Media Files area to find the target recorded file from your computer and click Open to import it to the Media library. Or you can directly drag and drop the target file to the Media library.

Step 3. Click the plus (+) icon on the target video to add it to the timeline or directly drag and drop it onto the timeline.

Step 4. You can use its trim tool to remove the unnecessary parts. Hover the mouse cursor over the beginning or end of the video clip until there appears a double-headed arrow. Drag the double-headed arrow rightwards or leftwards to remove the unwanted parts on both ends.

Step 5. After making other edits, click the Export option in the Player section. In the Export window, give a name to the compressed screen recording file and choose its saving path. Expand the Format dropdown and choose a compressed video format like MP4.

To further compress the video, you can click the Settings button to adjust the video quality, resolution, bitrate, and frame rate. Next, click OK and click the Export button to save the video file.

Other Good Tools to Compress Screen Recording

To give you more options, this part also has rounded up 3 good video compressors if you are a Mac user or want to use an online tool.

#1. QuickTime Player

QuickTime Player is a pre-installed application on Mac, which is well-known as a multimedia player. It can also work as a screen recorder that can record any activities happening on the screen. Furthermore, you can use it to shrink screen recording file size.

#2. iMovie

iMovie is a built-in video editor for Mac users with various basic and advanced editing features. you can use it to edit your screen recording. You can also use it as a video compressor since it allows you to shrink video file size when you export it.

SWF Compress: How to Compress SWF File to Reduce File Size

Do you have some SWF files with large file sizes? How to compress SWF files to reduce their file size? Read this post and you’ll find the answer.

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#3. Clideo

If you don’t want to download and install any software, using an online tool is a good choice. Among various online compressors, Clideo is worth trying which enables you to compress screen recording files on your browser. It supports a wide range of formats like MP4, MOV, WMV, VOB, etc. What’s more, it allows you to set the necessary parameters. With its simple and intuitive interface, you can master how to use it easily and quickly.

How to Screen Record with Smaller File Size

MiniTool Video Converter is not only a video compressor that can help you reduce the file size of screen recording but also a screen recorder that can save recordings in smaller file sizes. It supports saving recordings in MP4, FLV, MKV, WMV, AVI, MOV, and TS formats. To save a recording in a smaller file size, you can choose a compressed format or record in a lower frame rate or quality. With MiniTool Video Converter, you can do that work easily.

Screen Record with Smaller File Size Using MiniTool Video Converter

Step 1. Download, install, and open MiniTool Video Converter.

MiniTool Video ConverterClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

Step 2. Navigate to the Screen Record tab and click the Click to record screen area to access MiniTool Screen Recorder.

Step 3. You can keep the default Full screen option to capture the whole screen or choose the Select region to record a specific area. Also, you can decide whether to record the audio from the system or a microphone.

Step 4. Click the gear icon to open the Settings window. On the Settings page, you can change certain settings to get a screen recording in a smaller file size.

• Option 1. Select the format with a smaller file size. You can use MP4 or FLV format. MP4 has strong compression which makes it have a smaller file size. FLV format, widely used for streaming videos over the Internet, also has a smaller file size. Hence, open the Output format list and choose MP4 or FLV.
• Option 2. Lower the frame rate and quality. Expand the Frame rate dropdown and choose from 15fps, 20fps, and 25fps. Or you can choose the Quality as Standard.

You can also make other settings for your screen recording. Then click OK to save the changes.

Step 5. Click the red Record button or press the default F6 key on the keyboard to start recording. During the recording process, you can press F9 to pause and resume the recording.

Step 6. Finally, you can press F6 again to end the recording. Then the recorded video will appear in the list of MiniTool Screen Recorder. You can right-click on it to preview, delete, rename, or locate it.

Final Thoughts

In order to share large screen recording files easily, save storage space, or for other reasons, you can use a video compressor to compress screen recording files. This article has shown you some useful compressors and a tutorial on how to use them for video compression. You can follow the above tutorial to reduce the screen recording file size. Hopefully, this article will be helpful to you.

Finally, if you have any questions while using MiniTool Video Converter or MiniTool MovieMaker, please don’t hesitate to contact us via [email protected] for help.