Linux What are some space efficient modern codecs/container for old videos?

[Navier]

I have some wedding videos that are in format .vob, .dat and they take some space which i suspect can be reduced by re-encoding them to a modern video format.
Also, I have lots of videos taken from point-and-shoot camera that are in .avi format.

I am a beginner in video encoding and need some pointers on how to proceed with this.
From my limited google search, I found out that ffmpeg will work in my case.
I am familiar with command line and will be using linux (ubuntu).

Question -

1. Which codecs/container should I use so that all files work on android/ windows/ ios/ linux?
2. Have multiple .vob files that I need to combine to form a single video file. Is there a easy solution to this or will I have to write a shell script?

Thanks.

 

[nRiTeCh]

Try xmedia recode.

 

[ze_cook]

I have some wedding videos that are in format .vob, .dat and they take some space which i suspect can be reduced by re-encoding them to a modern video format.
Also, I have lots of videos taken from point-and-shoot camera that are in .avi format.

I am a beginner in video encoding and need some pointers on how to proceed with this.
From my limited google search, I found out that ffmpeg will work in my case.
I am familiar with command line and will be using linux (ubuntu).

Question -

1. Which codecs/container should I use so that all files work on android/ windows/ ios/ linux?
2. Have multiple .vob files that I need to combine to form a single video file. Is there a easy solution to this or will I have to write a shell script?

Thanks.

Handbrake is a good free utility, has a simple gui with advanced options buried in for power users.

Regarding codecs,

mp4 container with h264 codec has best compatibility with pretty good compression. Most devices built in the last decade can decode it fine.

mp4/mkv container with h265 codec, 4:2:0 chroma, fewer devices support it, but most devices built in the last 5 years or so will. Better compression compared to h264, harder to play without hardware acceleration.

mkv container with av1 codec, very few devices will support playback, pretty much requires current gen hardware to play them back with hardware acceleration. Hammers CPU if played with software decoding (no hardware acceleration). Best compression as of now, especially for low bit rates. It still is a "future" codec imo.

 

[Navier]

Handbrake is a good free utility, has a simple gui with advanced options buried in for power users.

Regarding codecs,

mp4 container with h264 codec has best compatibility with pretty good compression. Most devices built in the last decade can decode it fine.

mp4/mkv container with h265 codec, 4:2:0 chroma, fewer devices support it, but most devices built in the last 5 years or so will. Better compression compared to h264, harder to play without hardware acceleration.

mkv container with av1 codec, very few devices will support playback, pretty much requires current gen hardware to play them back with hardware acceleration. Hammers CPU if played with software decoding (no hardware acceleration). Best compression as of now, especially for low bit rates. It still is a "future" codec imo.

Thanks, gonna go with h265 codec and mkv container.

 

[n1r0]

Have multiple .vob files that I need to combine to form a single video file. Is there a easy solution to this or will I have to write a shell script?

Try avidemux. It will let you combine multiple files, and also trim. You can output it to HEVC/x265
The slower the preset you select, the better the encoding quality. Same for 2-pass.

Also, keep in mind that everytime you re-encode a video, you throw away some data, even if it is imperceptible.