How to create small video mp4 size videos in Premiere Pro

How to Make Small Video Files in Premiere Pro

Key takeaways

• Export directly from Premiere Pro or send a sequence to Adobe Media Encoder.

• Use Media Encoder to create and render several file-size versions at once.

• Compare High Bitrate, Medium Bitrate, and a custom low-bitrate export before choosing one.

• Bitrate is the setting that makes the biggest difference to video file size.

• Lowering resolution can make the image physically smaller without necessarily reducing the file size further.

Why make a video file smaller?

Videos get big. Really big. That is fine when you are keeping a master copy or uploading somewhere that can handle it, but it becomes annoying when you need to email a clip, send it to somebody, or simply keep the file manageable.

The trick is not to make everything tiny for the sake of it. You have a reason for making a small video, so the goal is to find the best compromise between file size and quality.

Start your export from Premiere Pro

Select the sequence you want to export, either in the timeline or in the Project panel. Then go to File > Export > Media.

You can make all the export changes directly in Premiere Pro. Alternatively, send the job to Adobe Media Encoder, which is especially handy when you want to create multiple versions of the same sequence.

In older layouts, the Queue option sends the export to Media Encoder. In newer Premiere Pro export layouts, the same controls are still there, but they have been shuffled about a little. Do not panic if the panels look different. The Video and Audio sections still contain the settings you need.

Why Adobe Media Encoder is useful here

Media Encoder is brilliant for this job because you can line up multiple exports and let them all encode while you get on with something else. Before adding new jobs, clear out any old test exports from the queue so things stay tidy.

Instead of guessing at one perfect export setting, make a few versions and compare them. This gives you an actual answer to the question: how much quality am I giving up for a smaller file?

Create high, medium, and low file-size versions

Start with your selected sequence in Adobe Media Encoder. Duplicate the queue item twice so you have three exports of the same video.

1. Keep the first export at Match Source High Bitrate.

2. Change the second export to Match Source Medium Bitrate.

3. Create a third custom version for a seriously small file.

Set an output location and give each version a meaningful name, such as high, medium, and low. Media Encoder normally avoids overwriting files, so it may add names such as 1, 2, and so on. That is normal, but clear naming saves you ending up with a folder full of mystery exports.

The setting that matters most: bitrate

For making an export smaller while keeping it reasonably good, go to the Video settings and find Bitrate Settings.

If you have ever exported a JPEG and chosen a lower quality value, this is basically the video version of that decision. More bitrate means more image information and a bigger file. Less bitrate means a smaller file, with more visible compression.

Use Variable Bitrate, 1 Pass

For the extra-low version, choose Variable Bitrate, 1 Pass and lower the bitrate. A high-quality version might sit around 10, a medium version around 3, and the lowest setting demonstrated here is 1.

A bitrate of 1 creates a very small file, but it is definitely a quality sacrifice. It may be acceptable for a quick email or a rough preview, but motion is where the quality drop becomes particularly obvious.

Do not try to solve this with audio settings

You can alter audio settings, but it does very little to reduce the overall file size in this situation. What it does do is make the sound worse, often in a rather unpleasant robotic way.

Leave the audio alone unless you have a specific audio requirement. Put your effort into the video bitrate first.

Render the batch and compare the results

Once your high, medium, and low versions are queued, start the render. Media Encoder will process them one after another.

If you want encoding to finish faster, close Premiere Pro and other heavy applications while Media Encoder works. That gives Media Encoder more available RAM to use for rendering.

In the example, all three exports remained HD resolution, but their file sizes changed dramatically:

• High bitrate: 133 MB

• Medium bitrate: 42 MB

• Low bitrate: 15 MB

That is the real payoff. The medium version made a substantial reduction in size while staying much more usable than the extremely low version. The low-bitrate export was visibly rough, particularly in moving parts of the image.

Should you reduce the video resolution as well?

Your natural instinct might be to make the video physically smaller too. A 1080p sequence is still 1080p even after its bitrate has been lowered, so surely changing it to 720p must shrink the file even further?

You can do that. In the export settings, turn off Match Source and set a smaller frame size, such as 720p. Match Source simply means the export is matching the settings of your sequence, including its dimensions and frame rate.

However, once the bitrate is already very low, reducing the dimensions or frame rate may not lower the file size much more. It gives you a physically smaller picture, but it does not necessarily produce a meaningfully smaller file than the low-bitrate 1080p export.

So the practical order is simple: lower bitrate first, then reduce resolution only if you also need a smaller image dimension.

A sensible small-video workflow

1. Select the completed sequence in Premiere Pro.

2. Open File > Export > Media, or send it to Media Encoder.

3. Create a High Bitrate and Medium Bitrate export for comparison.

4. Duplicate the medium export and create a custom low version.

5. In Video settings, use Variable Bitrate, 1 Pass and lower the bitrate to 1 for the smallest version.

6. Leave audio settings alone unless you have a separate reason to change them.

7. Render the versions, check the actual file sizes, and play them back before sending anything out.

For most small-video jobs, the Medium Bitrate preset is a solid place to start. Go all the way down to 1 only when file size matters more than polished image quality.

Key terms

Bitrate

The amount of video data used each second. Reducing bitrate is the main way to make an exported video file smaller, although it also reduces image quality.

Variable Bitrate, 1 Pass

An encoding method that varies the amount of data used across the video while completing the export in one pass. It is the setting used here for a very low bitrate export.

Match Source

An export option that keeps the output aligned with the sequence settings, such as 1080p resolution and frame rate. Turn it off only when you want to override those settings.

Adobe Media Encoder

Adobe's separate encoding application. It is useful when you want to queue several exports and process them as a batch.

FAQs

What is the easiest way to reduce video file size in Premiere Pro?

Use the Match Source Medium Bitrate preset first. If the file still needs to be smaller, open Video settings, find Bitrate Settings, select Variable Bitrate, 1 Pass, and lower the bitrate.

Will lowering video resolution always make the file smaller?

No. Lowering resolution makes the video physically smaller, but when the bitrate is already very low it may not reduce the file size by much. Bitrate has the bigger effect.

Should I lower the audio bitrate to make my video smaller?

Not as your first move. Changing audio settings has little effect on the total file size here and can make the audio sound noticeably worse. Reduce video bitrate instead.

Why does Media Encoder add _1 to my exported filename?

Media Encoder tries not to overwrite an existing file. When the same filename already exists in the output folder, it adds an underscore and number to create a new filename.