VideoCompress › HandBrake Alternative

Compress to a specific size — without HandBrake's spreadsheet math

HandBrake is superb open-source encoding software — but it deleted the "Target Size" input years ago. If your job is "this file must be under X MB", here's what that takes by hand, and what it takes with VideoCompress.

The feature HandBrake removed

Veterans remember HandBrake 0.9.x having a Target Size field: type the MB, get the file. It was removed in 0.10 (2014) and never returned. Today the official advice is to switch to Avg Bitrate and calculate the number yourself.

The manual math HandBrake leaves you with

  • 1. Measure your video's duration in seconds.
  • 2. Compute (target MB × 8192) / duration = total bitrate in kbps.
  • 3. Reserve audio from that total (e.g. 96-128 kbps) — forget this and you overshoot.
  • 4. Enter the remainder as Avg Bitrate, enable 2-pass encoding by hand, encode, then check the result — and nudge the number and repeat if you missed.

It works. It's also five minutes of arithmetic and a feedback loop, every single time.

Same engine, different job

HandBrake (avg bitrate)VideoCompress
Specify the output sizeCalculate manuallyType the MB
2-pass encodingManual toggleAutomatic
Result misses the targetRe-calculate and retry by handAuto-refines (up to 2 rounds)
Encoder choiceFull manual controlAuto-routed to your GPU
Filters, subtitles, chaptersExcellentNot the focus
PriceFree, open sourceFree tier / $14.9 lifetime

Keep HandBrake if you love hand-tuning filters, presets and codecs — it's a fantastic tool and it's not going anywhere. Use VideoCompress when the job is a number: "under 10 MB for Discord", "25 MB for email", done.

Note: both tools run 100% locally. Nothing is uploaded with either one.

Hit the size limit on the first try

Free for videos up to 5 minutes. Windows 10/11, 64-bit.

Download installer — 103 MB Portable zip — 141 MB