Real World Video Compression

Book excerpt: Video is the Internet these days and as the growing trend toward viewing video on mobile devices increases too, the attention is turning toward creating a good user experience for downloading and viewing that video. One of the keys to this is delivering video in the correct format with the proper compression for that delivery. Real World Video Compression is one of the first books on this topic to demystify the various approaches to compression. It begins by describing the basic concepts of video compression, explains why you might choose a particular compression tool over another, and covers important workflow practices. After the groundwork is laid, readers will learn how to compress their video according to the specific requirements of their projects and will learn some best practices by following the author's own tips and recipes. Experts in the field lend their own solutions in several sidebars throughout the book, making this a valuable learning tool for anyone learning to encode video, whether they are bloggers, DVD authors, video editors, or students. Contents at a Glance Chapter One: Understanding Video and Audio. Chapter Two: The Language of Compression Chapter Three: Best Practices Chapter Four: Preprocessing Interview with a Compressionist: John Howell Chapter Five: Compression Tools Interview with a Compressionist: Nico Puertollano Chapter Six: Compressing for DVDs Interview with a Compressionist: Ben Waggoner Chapter Seven: Compressing for the Web Interview with a Compressionist: Jim Rohner Chapter Eight: Compressing for Mobile Interview with a Compressionist: Ryanne Hodson Chapter Nine: Compressing for Set-Top Boxes Interview with a Compressionist: Andy Beach "In the highly accessible REAL WORLD VIDEO COMPRESSION, Andy Beach illuminates the dark-art of encoding and provides candid insight from working professionals. Andy's fluid style and easy prose decode this often misunderstood and often misinformed world...he is the Carl Sagan of compression." Brian Gary Filmmaker, Compressionist Author of the COMPRESSOR 3 QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE