Answers.Body: <p>I assume you're using the Mainconcept AVC encoder. 3GB for a 1h50m video implies a bitrate of 3.7 mbps. That's the average bitrate you need. Set max bitrate to 5 mbps.</p>
  
  <p>Now, usually I render in two passes. First pass is a high bitrate from Vegas  (20 mbps or more) and then encode with <a href="http://ffmpeg.org/download.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">ffmpeg</a>, which is a free command line tool.</p>
  
  <p>Command would be</p>
  
  <pre><code>ffmpeg -i vegas.mp4 -crf 23 -movflags +faststart final.mp4
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>ffmpeg offers lot more variables to adjust but the above should be enough for most size adjustment. Usually a CRF value between 18-28 (lower is better but bigger) works.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2016-12-19T22:01:16.930Z
Answers.Text: If Vegas can't produce a small enough H.264 file on its own, it would be better to encode with Vegas to a better mezzanine format than H.264, like DNxHD, ProRes, or even XDCAM/MPEG-2, and then use ffmpeg to convert to H.264. H.264 suffers from very severe concatenation issues that are visible to the average viewer.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Michael Liebman
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2016-12-20T05:10:45.250Z
Answers.Text: 'concatenation' issues? I don't follow. My workflow is for output meant for web playout, not broadcast.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Gyan
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2016-12-20T13:57:33.983Z
Answers.Text: Concatenation errors occur when you go through multiple encode/decode cycles, particularly of the same codec. I understand that your workflow wasn't for broadcast, but the problems with H.264 are so bad even with just 2 codec cycles, that the average person will notice significant drops in quality. It's no more difficult for the OP to output from Vegas to MPEG-2 and get a much better result.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Michael Liebman
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2016-12-19T17:47:47.213Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2016-12-19T17:47:47.213Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Gyan
Body: <p>So I have decided to unite in a whole video everything I have of my child. I wanna render it in a sole .mp4 file with 1080p, good audio, etc. I want all that <em>(1:50:00)</em> in 2GB or 3GB, no more. I've seen videos accomplishing this smoothly, but everything I've tried so far ends in 9-12GB.</p>
  
  <p>What I need to do to achieve it?</p>
  
  <p>Thanks.</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2018-09-07T03:32:33.917Z
Comments.Text: Instead of targeting the final size you should target the bitrate. 1080p at bitrate lower than, say, 5 Mbit/s using AVC encoder would be too low. Not sure why do you care about the file size, the storage in cheap. Unless you plan to put it on a FAT32 memory card.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Rusty Core
Tags: <export>
Title: Proper HD export format in Sony Vegas Pro 13 for a decent video size?
UserDisplayName: Alain Alemany
ThreadText: # Proper HD export format in Sony Vegas Pro 13 for a decent video size?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2016-12-19)
  
  So I have decided to unite in a whole video everything I have of my child. I wanna render it in a sole .mp4 file with 1080p, good audio, etc. I want all that *(1:50:00)* in 2GB or 3GB, no more. I've seen videos accomplishing this smoothly, but everything I've tried so far ends in 9-12GB.
  
  What I need to do to achieve it?
  
  Thanks.
  
  **Tags:** export
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: Instead of targeting the final size you should target the bitrate. 1080p at bitrate lower than, say, 5 Mbit/s using AVC encoder would be too low. Not sure why do you care about the file size, the storage in cheap. Unless you plan to put it on a FAT32 memory card.  
  
  ---
  
  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_2 on 2016-12-19. Score: 0
  
  I assume you're using the Mainconcept AVC encoder. 3GB for a 1h50m video implies a bitrate of 3.7 mbps. That's the average bitrate you need. Set max bitrate to 5 mbps.
  
  Now, usually I render in two passes. First pass is a high bitrate from Vegas (20 mbps or more) and then encode with [ffmpeg](http://ffmpeg.org/download.html), which is a free command line tool.
  
  Command would be
  
  ```
  ffmpeg -i vegas.mp4 -crf 23 -movflags +faststart final.mp4
  
  ```
  
  ffmpeg offers lot more variables to adjust but the above should be enough for most size adjustment. Usually a CRF value between 18-28 (lower is better but bigger) works.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_3**: If Vegas can't produce a small enough H.264 file on its own, it would be better to encode with Vegas to a better mezzanine format than H.264, like DNxHD, ProRes, or even XDCAM/MPEG-2, and then use ffmpeg to convert to H.264. H.264 suffers from very severe concatenation issues that are visible to the average viewer.  
  > **username_2**: 'concatenation' issues? I don't follow. My workflow is for output meant for web playout, not broadcast.  
  > **username_3**: Concatenation errors occur when you go through multiple encode/decode cycles, particularly of the same codec. I understand that your workflow wasn't for broadcast, but the problems with H.264 are so bad even with just 2 codec cycles, that the average person will notice significant drops in quality. It's no more difficult for the OP to output from Vegas to MPEG-2 and get a much better result.  
  
  ---
  
  