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Handbrake: Optimal settings to convert for iPod/iPhone

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Ok, I've sorted out the issues with ripping/converting movies, but the settings in Handbrake are a little overwhelming for a newb like me.

Can someone who does this a lot tell me what setting are best for the best picture/audio an iPod/iPhone screen with the smallest overall file size?

Thanks again for the help!
 
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Well, after having ripped about 10 movies today for my iPhone, I finally found settings that seemed to work ok for me. I use MP4 file format, mpeg-4/aac codecs, framerate of 24, average bitrate of 500, Output picture settings of 480 x whatever keeps the aspect ration the same. I set the audio to 64 bitrate, although even the lesser ones sound fine to me over the speaker or headphones. All this produces a movie file about 400-500MB in size depending on the length of the movie. I am going to try some smaller output sizes to see what they look like. Ideally I would like to get the fils sizes down to about 250MB without losing quality in sound or picture, but havent really had much time today to play around with it. Just wanted to get some on it for vacation next week to watch enroute.
 
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fleurya
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Thanks for the reply! Keep me posted if you find some good settings at lower memory consumption!
 
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Use the following:

MP4/H.264
Bitrate no higher than 1500k
Video no larger than 640x480
Using 2 pass will give you better quality and an only slight higher file size. This will come in handy should you choose to watch the video on a regular TV at some point.

Remember, the lower the bitrate and video size, the smaller the resulting file will be.

Most of mine are ripped at 320x240 with a bitrate between 750K and 1200K.

There is a guide HERE, although it is a bit dated the settings will still work and it's a good walk through (there were changes in the GUI between 8.0 and 8.5). Eventually I'll update it though.

There are threads in the HandBrake Forums about this too.
 

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