When browsing for highly compressed movies and TV shows, use this cheat sheet:
| File Size (2h movie) | Resolution | Codec | Quality Expectation | Best Use Case | | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | | 200-400 MB | 480p (DVD) | H.264 | Poor. Blocky. Audible hiss. | Dial-up internet or ancient MP4 players. | | 500-800 MB | 720p | H.265 | Average. Watchable on phones. Blurry on monitors. | Commuting, mobile phones, data saving. | | 900 MB - 1.5 GB | 1080p | H.265 | Good. Most "YIFY" style rips. Fine for laptops. | Laptop screens, budget tablets. | | 2-3 GB | 1080p | H.264 / H.265 | Very Good. Noticeable film grain. Clean audio. | Home theater PC, 1080p projectors. | | 4-8 GB | 1080p or 4K | H.265 / AV1 | Excellent. Near remux quality. | Archival, OLED TVs, action films. | highly compressed movies and tv shows
Final verdict: If you want highly compressed, never go below 1GB per hour of video at 1080p. Anything smaller is a waste of bandwidth because the visual degradation makes the movie unwatchable. When browsing for highly compressed movies and TV
1. HandBrake (Free, Open Source) This is your Swiss Army knife. you will see a soft
2. FFmpeg (For command-line wizards)
If you want surgical precision:
ffmpeg -i input.mkv -c:v libx265 -crf 28 -c:a aac -b:a 96k output.mkv
3. VidCoder (HandBrake with a better UI) Excellent for batch processing entire TV show seasons.
Many groups release "720p" or even "480p" versions. A 720p file has roughly half the pixels of a 1080p file. If your screen is a 6-inch phone, you won't notice the difference. If it is a 65-inch TV, you will see a soft, blurry image.