Speed Up or Slow Down a Video, and What It Costs
Changing video speed re-times the frames and stretches the audio. What 0.5x, 1.5x and 4x do to duration, frame rate, pitch and file size, with the arithmetic.
2026-09-16 · 10 min read
Writing
Blog
Practical notes on working with video files: codecs, compression, and getting a clip to fit where it needs to go.
Remove Audio From Video: Mute Without Re-Encoding
Drop the audio stream and copy the video untouched. What muting really saves in file size, when to mute instead of cut, and how to do it in your browser.
2026-09-15 · 10 min read
MP3 Bitrate: 128 vs 192 vs 320 kbps Explained
What MP3 bitrate really buys you: megabytes per hour at every tier, when 320 kbps is wasted, why re-encoding costs twice, and what to pick for speech.
2026-09-14 · 11 min read
Extract Frames From Video: Stills at Any Interval
Pull a still out of any video: which format to save it as, why the frame looks softer than the video did, and how to land on an exact moment rather than near it.
2026-09-11 · 12 min read
Compress Video for Google Drive Before Uploading
Drive takes a 5 TB file and then builds its own preview stream. How to compress video for Google Drive so the version people watch is the one you chose.
2026-09-10 · 10 min read
Sideways Video? Fix Rotation Without Re-Encoding
A sideways clip is usually a rotation flag your player ignored, not broken footage. How to tell which fix you need, and when metadata beats a re-encode.
2026-09-09 · 11 min read
Crop vs Resize Video: Which One Do You Need?
Crop removes pixels and changes the ratio. Resize keeps every pixel and changes the scale. Here's how to tell which operation your video actually needs.
2026-09-08 · 10 min read
Video Aspect Ratios: 16:9, 9:16, 1:1 and 4:5 Sizes
Video aspect ratios decoded: what ratio, resolution and orientation each mean, the exact pixel sizes for 16:9, 9:16, 1:1 and 4:5, and what changing one costs.
2026-09-07 · 13 min read
Are Online Video Converters Safe? What to Check
Are online video converters safe? Two very different risks hide behind that one question. Here is how to tell them apart, and how to check any tool yourself.
2026-09-04 · 12 min read
Split a Long Video Into Parts, in Your Browser
Split a long video into parts without uploading it. Measured: where lossless cuts really land, why parts look like they overlap, and how to fix it.
2026-09-03 · 12 min read
How to Make a High-Quality GIF From Video
GIF quality is decided by 256 colours. Measured exports showing what a generated palette and the right dither do, plus a settings recipe per clip type.
2026-09-02 · 12 min read
WebM vs MP4: Which One Should You Keep?
WebM is smaller on a web page you control and unreadable in most editors. Where it breaks, what a matched-quality test measured, and when a remux is enough.
2026-09-01 · 13 min read
Resize Video for Instagram Reels: 1080x1920 Fast
The Instagram Reels video size everyone quotes is 1080x1920, but the ratio is what Instagram actually enforces. Crop, pad, safe zones, and the resize itself.
2026-08-31 · 12 min read
Compress Video for Text Message: MMS vs iMessage
Compress video for text message the right way: find which pipe it takes, MMS, iMessage or RCS, the target size for each, and when not to bother at all.
2026-08-28 · 14 min read
Screen Recording Too Big? Why, and How to Shrink It
Screen recordings get huge because recorders pick a bitrate for motion, not a static screen. Why, plus the settings that shrink them without mushy text.
2026-08-27 · 14 min read
Extract Audio From Video: MP3 in Your Browser
Pull audio out of any video without installing anything. What codec is really inside your MP4, when to copy the stream instead of re-encoding, and which bitrate.
2026-08-26 · 11 min read
Convert MOV to MP4 Free (Without Uploading It)
Most MOV files already hold H.264 video, so the fix is a rewrap, not a conversion. How to tell which case you have, and convert it without an upload.
2026-08-25 · 11 min read
H.264 vs H.265: Which Codec Should You Export?
H.265 makes smaller files, H.264 plays everywhere. Where HEVC quietly fails, what the half-the-bitrate claim really means, and which one to export.
2026-08-21 · 13 min read
Compress Video for WhatsApp: Under the Send Limit
How to reduce video size for WhatsApp so its encoder has nothing left to damage: the real limit, the document path, and the resolution that survives.
2026-08-20 · 11 min read
Compress Video Without Losing Quality: What's Real
Compress video without losing quality means two different things. The difference between truly lossless and visually lossless, and which CRF gets you there.
2026-08-19 · 12 min read
Edit Video Without Uploading It Anywhere
Most online video editors take your file first. Here is how a browser runs FFmpeg locally instead, what it costs in speed, and which tools genuinely do it.
2026-08-18 · 12 min read
Compress a Video to an Exact File Size
Turn a target file size into a bitrate with one line of arithmetic, see what each budget can carry at 8, 10, 16, 25 and 50 MB, and hit it in your browser.
2026-08-17 · 12 min read
Video to GIF for Slack: Sizes That Actually Post
Video to GIF for Slack, done properly: what Slack's help pages actually limit, how fps and width drive the file size, and three measured exports of one clip.
2026-08-14 · 15 min read
Compress Video for Email: Get Under the 25 MB Cap
Gmail, Outlook, iCloud and Yahoo attachment limits, checked today, why a 24 MB file bounces off a 25 MB cap, and how to hit a target in your browser.
2026-08-13 · 13 min read
Compress Video for Discord: Hit 10 MB Without Nitro
Discord's free upload limit is 10 MB. Work out the bitrate your clip can afford, pick the resolution and CRF that hit it, and compress it in your browser.
2026-08-12 · 11 min read
GIF vs MP4: Why GIFs Are 10x Larger
GIF is a 1987 image format doing a video's job. The mechanics of why GIFs balloon, what Google measured, and when a GIF is still the right call.
2026-08-09 · 2 min read
Lossless Video Trimming: How Keyframes Work
Why lossless trims snap to keyframes, why re-encoding cuts exactly, and how to choose between instant stream-copy and frame-precise trimming.
2026-08-09 · 2 min read
Video Compression, by the Numbers
File size is bitrate times duration. The arithmetic of video compression, what CRF actually does, and realistic size expectations.
2026-08-09 · 2 min read
