<p>Well, the short answer is, you can't. </p>

<p>The longer answer: DVD uses MPEG2 compression, which is a lot less efficient than MPEG4 (aka h.264). In other words it can't get the same quality from the same file size as MPEG4 does. </p>

<p>So you can choose: similar file size, or similar quality, but not both.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-01-17T00:10:04.700Z
'MPEG4' is likely part 2 (xvid), rather than part 10 (h.264), but your point still stands
evilsoup
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-02-07T12:37:56.953Z
2012-02-07T12:37:56.953Z
stib
<p>I want to encode a group of low-quality MPEG-4 video files to DVD format (to eventually burn to a DVD).</p>

<p>The problem is that when I encode the video, the resulting files are often 2-3x as large as the original video files.</p>

<p>How can I encode the video files so that they are in DVD format, roughly the same quality, and roughly the same file size as the originals?</p>

<file-formats>
Encode MPEG-4 to DVD Format Without Doubling File Size
Steven
# Encode MPEG-4 to DVD Format Without Doubling File Size

(Asked by: username_0 on 2012-02-07)

I want to encode a group of low-quality MPEG-4 video files to DVD format (to eventually burn to a DVD).

The problem is that when I encode the video, the resulting files are often 2-3x as large as the original video files.

How can I encode the video files so that they are in DVD format, roughly the same quality, and roughly the same file size as the originals?

**Tags:** file-formats


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2012-02-07. Score: 3

Well, the short answer is, you can't.

The longer answer: DVD uses MPEG2 compression, which is a lot less efficient than MPEG4 (aka h.264). In other words it can't get the same quality from the same file size as MPEG4 does.

So you can choose: similar file size, or similar quality, but not both.

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: 'MPEG4' is likely part 2 (xvid), rather than part 10 (h.264), but your point still stands  

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