[Tutorial] Encoding and compressing FRAPS footage

[[MPGH]master131]

If you've used FRAPS before, you can obviously tell it produces rediculously large video files because it doesn't have much time to compress the video or audio while it's recording. This guide will teach you how to compress that 4GB video file into an appropriate size for storage or uploading to YouTube. You can also follow this guide if you want to upload large videos you've rendered in software like Sony Vegas or After Effects. Sorry if it looks long but I've tried to keep it simple.

Downloading and setting up MeGUI
Before installing MeGUI, please ensure you have the following already installed:

• .NET Framework 3.5

1. Download the latest version from MeGUI here (so this guide stays up to date):

https://sourceforge.net/projects/megui/files/latest/download

2. Download and extract the contents of the zip into a folder (or you'll end up with heaps of files on your Desktop )
3. Download MeGUI-x264_generic_profiles_v85.zip at the bottom of this post. Credits to Sharktooth @ doom9 for the profiles.
4. Copy the allprofiles folder inside MeGUI-x264_generic_profiles_v85.zip into your MeGUI directory.
5. Run MeGUI.exe and let it complete the updates.
6. Eventually, you will be prompted to download Nero AAC from Nero's official website, click Yes.
7. In your browser, click Accept and enter in your e-mail (or some fake one if you're lazy) and click the Download button and save the zip somewhere.
9. If MeGUI asks to restart, click No and close it.
10. Copy the 3 files inside the win32 folder of the zip you downloaded from the Nero website into <MeGUI directory>\tools\eac3to.

Encoding the video
I'm going to use a short 1 minute clip I recorded with FRAPS with a resolution of 1024x768.

1. Start up MeGUI and click File > Open.
2. Browse to the file to encode.
3. Click One Click Encoder when it asks which 'weapon to use'.

4. Click on Config next to OneClick profile.

5. Ensure that Keep input resolution (disable Crop & Resize) is ticked otherwise it may crop some of the video especially if you've recorded the footage using a 4:3 aspect ratio like I did.

6. Click on the Encoding Setup tab. Select x264: Unrestricted 2pass HQ as the Video Preset and Nero AAC: NDAAC-HE-64Kbps as the Audio Codec.

6a. If you think 64kbps is pretty crap quality (it's about half the quality of most MP3s), click on Config button and move the Adaptive Bitrate slider to something like 128kbps and click OK. Click No if it asks to update the profile, we don't want to do that.

7. Click on the Container Type tab and make sure MKV is ticked (it should be by default).

8. Click OK to close the OneClick Configuration dialog.
9. Click on the arrow next to File Size and click Select custom size....
10. Enter in a file size for the MKV, generally I'd suggest 5MB per minute (video length in minutes * 5). You are allowed to increase it to get higher quality video and audio (especially if your original footage is recorded in 1080p or larger). Click OK.

11. Now, click Go! to begin encoding.

12. Wait while it goes through each stage of encoding. It may take some time but personally I think it's worth it since my upload speed is capped by my ISP. The more powerful your CPU is, the less time this will take to encode.


Enjoy your final result guys! Here's a screenshot from the encoded MKV itself, as you can see the quality is great for a 1 minute video that is only 5MB.



Virus Scans:
https://www.virustotal.com/file/6d07...is/1333507056/
https://virusscan.jotti.org/en-gb/sca...3d211a7281f4ba

Avast! reports 'decompression bomb', there's only XML files inside the ZIP It's obviously a false positive.

[Jigsaw]

That's awesome, I might try it someday.

Also, scans? :3

[[MPGH]master131]

Ugh, in a moment. They're just XML files.

[Justin]

Nice Release @master131, I remember doing these types of in-depth instructions for my continual FRAPS Release Threads.

[[MPGH]Dave84311]

How long does it take you to encode a file? I got a shit ton of fraps footage that needs encoding.

[Stevenom]

I'd prefer @Moto's tutorial.


---------- Post added at 06:46 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:43 PM ----------

I'd prefer @Moto's tutorial.

I've got many videos that were made to under 300MB's.
FRAPS makes a new video after 3.95GB is used.
I've had a few of those.
Maybe roughly 8.85GB.
Compressed to around 250MB, but still HD.

[[MPGH]master131]

How long does it take you to encode a file? I got a shit ton of fraps footage that needs encoding.

Depends on how powerful your CPU is and the video's length and resolution. I've got a quad-core at the moment, the one I used took like 1 minute or less.

I'd prefer @Moto's tutorial.


---------- Post added at 06:46 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:43 PM ----------



I've got many videos that were made to under 300MB's.
FRAPS makes a new video after 3.95GB is used.
I've had a few of those.
Maybe roughly 8.85GB.
Compressed to around 250MB, but still HD.

Ew, MeGUI has more better options. :3 I guess if you are a big noob and don't want to mess around with MeGUI's UI then you could use Easy H264 Encoder.

Oh and as a side note, you could also use this tutorial to encode large movies (I've based this guide off a few x264 movie encoding threads I've read a while ago from other sites so yeah).

[Stevenom]

I guess if you are a big noob

What's that supposed to mean?

[[MPGH]master131]

What's that supposed to mean?

.

[Stevenom]

.

Let's see who's quality is better.
Do you have any games in common?

[[MPGH]master131]

Seriously? I don't want to waste time with this crap. :3

[Paul]

Thanks for reminding me why you're my favourite coder

[Occidi de Pax]

I actualy prefer using sony´s mp4 on 1080p render :S

Also youtube is insane i go to the vid and quality was 1080p today its only 360 youtube i dont even...
However i feel compeled to use this soon :S

[Moto]

Nice guide tommy. Usually in my case, I'd never upload a fraps video straight to youtube. Uncompressed is shit. I'd run it through sony vegas, maybe add some music, or whatever you prefer, then render it out in uncompressed AVI, then use easy h.264 to encode it.

Or just go straight fraps file -> easy h.264

Simple program, heard of it?

---------- Post added at 01:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:40 PM ----------

Ew, MeGUI has more better options. :3 I guess if you are a big noob and don't want to mess around with MeGUI's UI then you could use Easy H264 Encoder.

Oh and as a side note, you could also use this tutorial to encode large movies (I've based this guide off a few x264 movie encoding threads I've read a while ago from other sites so yeah).

Sooooo confused. Better options != better quality. Easy H.264 is a much easier application, and by personal experience is a lot quicker. I tested both of them on my six core :3.

[Stevenom]

Nice guide tommy. Usually in my case, I'd never upload a fraps video straight to youtube. Uncompressed is shit. I'd run it through sony vegas, maybe add some music, or whatever you prefer, then render it out in uncompressed AVI, then use easy h.264 to encode it.

Or just go straight fraps file -> easy h.264

Simple program, heard of it?

---------- Post added at 01:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:40 PM ----------



Sooooo confused. Better options != better quality. Easy H.264 is a much easier application, and by personal experience is a lot quicker. I tested both of them on my six core :3.

i7 2600k, quad core with hyperthreading.