“I have some video files and Blu-ray movie files. They are quite large. I heard that VLC media player could play back media files but also compress media files. The problem is that I have no idea how to compress these movie files to reduce the file size. Can you please show me how to compress video/DVD/Blu-ray file size within VLC media player?”

As top free and open-source media player software tool, VLC media player has multiple functions that could improve your digital entertainment. It could not only play back media files, but also convert media files to different formats. Moreover, VLC media player enables you to compress video/DVD/Blu-ray movie files to reduce the file size. If you have a high-resolution movie on your computer that you want to watch on your smartphone, you’ll probably have to shrink it to a size that suits your phone. There are a lot of video compression software out there but VLC media player is a top choice.

There are actually 2 ways to help you reduce video/DVD/Blu-ray file size within VLC media player: compress video to smaller size, and cut unwanted clips. If you don’t know how to compress video/DVD/Blu-ray file to reduce file size in VLC media player, this guide would show you the detailed steps.

Solution 1: Compress Video to Smaller Size With VLC

VLC media player has a video compressor that could compress large files into smaller size. You could therefore make use of the internal video compressor to compress videos in VLC media player so as to reduce the file size. The internal video compress makes use of the built-in Convert module in VLC media player to convert video files in large file formats such as MKV and AVI to smaller file formats like FLV, WMV, etc. You don’t need to install extra plugins to convert large MKV/AVI files to smaller FLV or WMV files.

What’s more, you could also adjust the audio and video parameters of output files for converting. We know that different video parameters like frame rate, resolution, etc. also influence video size. When you try to convert large video/DVD/Blu-ray files to files in smaller format like FLV or WMV, you could adjust the parameters to reduce file size as well. You could change the frame rate, bit rate, resolution, etc. to reduce large file size of source video/DVD/Blu-ray files.

If you have no idea on how to compress large video/DVD/Blu-ray files within VLC media player, follow the below guide to learn the detailed steps:

  1. Make sure you have downloaded and installed VLC media player on your computer. At the same time, get source video/DVD/Blu-ray files ready for converting and compressing.
  2. Go to the “Menu” option and click on “Media > Convert/save” button and select the video you need clicking on “Add > Convert/Save” when you were done.
  3. Select the type of profile you want to convert the video. Then click on “Settings” button under profile section and then click on “Video Codec” tab, and enter the height and width of the video, please keep in mind that the aspect ratio should be the same as before to keep the better quality. Meanwhile, you could adjust the frame rate and bit rate. The lower values you set, the smaller file size the output file would be.
  4. Set an output directory to save the output compressed video files in the “Destination file” box. And name the output file here as well.
  5. Start VLC video compression by clicking the “Start” button.

Then, you only need to wait for the converting to complete. When the conversion completes, you will get compressed video files in the format you need.

Solution 2: Trim/Crop Video to Reduce Size With VLC

As mentioned above, besides compressing large file size through converting to reduce file size, you could also trim or crop video file to reduce file size in VLC media player.

1. Trim video to reduce file size with VLC media player

VCL media player’s internal recorder enables you to trim and cut videos so as to reduce file size by removing unwanted clips. The internal video recorder records the video clips you want and removes the clips you don’t need.

It’s quite easy to trim/crop video file in VLC media player for recording. Follow the below steps to learn how to trim/cut video within VLC:

  1. Drag the playing slide bar to the start point you'd like to cut the video.
  2. Click "Record" button and then "Play" button. VLC media player will begin recording the video.
  3. Click "Record" button again to stop the recording at the end point of desired video part.
  4. Check the trimmed video clips in Videos library or My Documents folder, according to your VLC media player installation folder.

In this way, you could easily remove unwanted video clips within VLC media player precisely so as to reduce the file size.

2. Crop video file to reduce file size in VLC media player

The internal video cropper in VLC media player enables you to crop video files so as to remove the unwanted corners or black margins, therefore reducing file size in VLC.

Check the below 2 methods to learn how to crop a video within VLC media player for file reducing:

  • Method 1: Click "Video" in the menu bar, move down to "Crop" option, on the pop-up side menu select a specific aspect ratio, like 16:10, 4:3, 1.85:1, 1:1, etc., and then video will be cropped for playback at that aspect ratio.
  • Method 2: Scroll down to the bottom of the player and click "Show extended settings" in the toolbar, switch to "Video Effects" tab, choose “Crop” option, set different values in the four positions (left, right, top and bottom), and then click the “Save” button.

After cropping, the file size of your video files would be reduced as well.

Part 3: Best VLC Alternative to Compress Large Files - Leawo Prof. Media

Speaking of compressing media files, VLC media player has been a wonderful choice. But still, it's not the best video reducer since it only uses some basic settings instead of advanced settings to reduce video size. We here would like to recommend an alternative to VLC media player – Leawo Prof. Media.

Compared to VLC media player, Leawo Prof. Media enables you to reduce video/DVD/Blu-ray file size in an easier way. You could also trim video length, crop video size, adjust the output video parameters, convert large files to smaller file formats, etc. What’s more, besides these file size reduction solutions, Leawo Prof. Media still provides you multiple other wonderful solutions to improve you digital entertainment such as burning video/photos to Blu-ray/DVD, downloading online videos, copying and backing up Blu-ray/DVD movies, converting 2D to 3D, etc.

Follow the below guide to learn how to reduce large video/DVD/Blu-ray file size with this VLC alternative. Firstly, download and install Leawo Prof. Media on your computer.

Step 1: Launch Leawo Prof. Media

On Leawo Prof. Media program interface, open “Convert” menu to enter the “Convert” module.

Step 2: Add source video files

Under the “Convert” module, you could directly drag and drop source media files, or click “Add Video” button to browse and load video files from your computer.

Attention: If you are going to load Blu-ray/DVD files, Leawo Prof. Media offers 3 different content loading modes: Full Movie, Main Movie and Custom Mode. Full Movie allows you to import all titles, and Main Movie only imports the longest title by default but allows you to switch, while under Custom Mode you could freely choose any title(s) for loading. Choose the one according to your needs and load source Blu-ray movies.

Step 3: Set output format

Hit the button next to the “Add Photo” button and then click “Change” option to enter the “Profile” panel. Choose output format from “Format” or “Device” group according to your needs.

Click the “Edit” option on the drop-down panel next to the “Add Photo” button and then you can adjust the output video and audio parameters like video codec, video bit rate, aspect ratio, resolution, audio codec, sample rate, bit rate, channel, etc. If you want to reduce file size, lower the values of bit rate, frame rate, resolution, audio bit rate, sample rate, etc. But you need to know that lowering down these values would result in quality loss.

Step 4: Trim and crop videos within this VLC alternative

Now, let’s focus on how to trim and crop video files within the best VLC media player alliterative for file size reduction. In each loaded video title, click the “edit” icon to enter the editing panel for trimming and cropping.

Trim video with VLC alternative

Open the “Trim” tab, drag the left limiter and the right limiter on the playbar to trim video clip and get rid of unwanted clip. You could also set the values of the “Start Time” and “End Time” below. Click “OK” to save trimming.

Crop video

Open the “Crop” tab and then you could crop video size to remove black margin or unwanted parts. You can firstly choose a Zoom style, and then drag the handlers of the frame on the left "Original Preview" window, or modify the parameters below for an accurate result to crop video size and remove black margins. Here you could also rotate video for special angle of view. Click the “OK” button then.

Step 5: Set output directory and start converting

On the main interface, click the green button of “Convert” and then click the “Save to” option to set a directory, and hit the “Convert” option to start converting.

After the converting completes, you could then get video files with much less file size.

Part 4: VLC vs. Prof. Media

With VLC media player and Prof. Media, you could easily reduce video/Blu-ray/DVD file size. However, they are 2 different tools: VLC media player is mainly a media player that offers some bonus features to help you compress video/DVD/Blu-ray files and trim/crop video files, while Leawo Prof. Media enables you to not only play video/DVD/Blu-ray files but also handle video/DVD/Blu-ray/audio/picture/ISO image file conversions. Leawo Prof. Media makes your digital entertainment much more enjoyable.