capcut expected output size doesn't match, not even close

[steveyswid]

Hola. I'm struggling a little bit since my Ryzen7 Pro, 32gb ram, NVME doesn't appear to handle anytime of timeline playback regardless of tinkering/proxying or not :/ It's impossible to edit. Down the road, I am planning on investing on an M4 Max Macbook Pro.

So CapCut actually has excellent playback and I tried tinkering with the limited settings.

My source file is a 60fps @ 4K HEVC. The raw bitrate is 120Kbps. File size 10.7GB.

When I output using the "higher" bitrate option, 4K, 60fps, HEVC..... it generates a 4.6GB file @ about 45Kbps bitrate.

I wanted to see if I can bump up the bitrate even more to like 60Kbps.

Another export, same settings, was started and I set the custom bitrate of 60,000kbps just to see what happens.

The expected file size was 5.6GB, it said so in the window.

Once the file was finished processing, it size was only 1.3GB and the bitrate dropped to 14,000kbps.

What happened?

I also made sure to start a "new project" as well. My thoughts were perhaps it was rendering the "higher quality" video that was somehow cached.

But this was no dice.

Do how come "higher output" option is severely outperforming a custom selection that you would think would result in a larger file size?

 

[Theodor]

What is the bitrate of the original raw file you imported?

 

[steveyswid]

120mbit / 120,000kbps

 

[Theodor]

Well that is my idea bust
Have you tried asking from program specific forums too? Would be interesting to know the reason behind this, even though I have no experience with the program.

 

[steveyswid]

I've reached out, but doesn't seem too active or people just don't know. When I get home from work, I may try to render x264 this time around with "higher quality" and then a custom bitrate of "60,000" just to see what happens.

One more thing worth mentioning, I wonder if "Higher Quality" uses VBR over CBR (doesn't even show as an option to choose). But, when I use Custom Bitrate, the selection is available. Guess I can mess with that too.

Typing things out like this certainly helps the troubleshooting thought process become more clearer lol.

One thing that doesn't sit well with me is still the massive file size difference regardless of if I was choosing VBR over CBR.

 

[steveyswid]

Note to self: Maybe custom bitrate selection isn't supposed to be target bit rate, but rather what the raw bitrate was. And then let compression do its thing. Mess around with that too when I get home.

 

[HippoDrone]

Note to self: Maybe custom bitrate selection isn't supposed to be target bit rate, but rather what the raw bitrate was. And then let compression do its thing. Mess around with that too when I get home.

I don't use the same editing software, but when I select the bitrate on mine, that is the ballpark of what the final video uses

 

[steveyswid]

Not sure why customize is even an option at this point. No matter what bitrate I put in.... downscaling the bitrate to 14mbit :/ Why is a default template with no editing allowed going up to 45mbit? Sigh

Guess I am going to try the same in 264. If that doesn't work see if 49 or 50mbit is potentially a cap with customizable settings.

 

[SighBored]

I never checked after rendering the end file on Capcut, I just pull the bar to everything max and let it render. That being said I have no clue what the end rates are.. I just post them. For me Capcut is usually for short vertical clips less than a minute/30 sec so I don't really bother to review, as long as it looks nice on the cellphone screen I'm OK.

 

[steveyswid]

Unfortunately, I need to use CapCut on a PC because it is literally the only editor that gives me very good and non-choppy timeline playback. I can't begin to guess why this "cheap software" does this a million times better than DaVinci.

With that being said though, I have purchased a 2tb nvme hard drive (unique 2242) that is 2x faster than my current one and also upped my ram from 24 to 64. Basically, I maxed this laptop out in terms of what it can do.

The bright side is that, I can now play around with proxies (more space!) on DaVinci for smoother timeline playback.

Or perhaps once my peripherals are installed, I'll no longer need proxies.

Still makes me mad that capcuts playback is is supreme, yet you can't set the bitrate in h265

 

[Drakhen99]

Is the codec you're rendering with the same as the source? If not, the file sizes and bitrates will end up being different. My files start out as HEVC from GoPro, but end up H.265, and they're far smaller. A 15-minute video will typically be about 1.5gb in size, with a much smaller bitrate than the source... but no noticeable loss in quality.

As for CapCut out-performing Resolve... Resolve is a VERY resource-intensive program. It's doing so much behind the scenes, that it's not uncommon for me to be using 100% CPU, 100% GPU, and 17-20gb of RAM. Playback can get choppy, depending upon settings in the program, clips being shown, and timeline resolution.

That said, I usually have very smooth playback, even with 2 or 3 GoPro files being shown in frame at the same time, and they're a mix of 4k and 2.7k. I would suspect that 60fps is the bigger issue, as my source files are usually 100kbps bitrate, so not far off your 120kbps.

-John

 

[steveyswid]

My source is also a 120mbit GoPro12. It is HVEC too.
Since I can strictly only work with CapCut, it only has one "high render" template option.
That brings down a 10.2GB raw file down to about 2.3GB total file size.
However, the bitrate gets knocked down to 45mbit, which is okay.

The issue is setting the custom bitrate option when deciding not to use the template. In HVEC it does absolutely nothing and no matter what I set it to, it only outputs at 14mbit. This is trash.

Going to h264, I am able to set my own bitrate successfully with anything I chose, at the expense of my output file being about 8GB.

And here is the really interesting thing.
I can compile in davinci just not make edits.... so i did some testing.
Compiling in h265 got me to about 8GB output file with 70mbit bitrate in davinci
Compiling h264 in CapCut with a custom bitrate of 80mbit, outputted an 8GB file too in davinci.

So h264 file size with my own bitrate at 80mbit in capcut, the file size is actually slightly smaller than rendering with davinci in h265 (output 45mbit). And I used highest output settings in davinci by watching a zillion tutorials.

 

[Drakhen99]

My source is also a 120mbit GoPro12. It is HVEC too.
Since I can strictly only work with CapCut, it only has one "high render" template option.
That brings down a 10.2GB raw file down to about 2.3GB total file size.
However, the bitrate gets knocked down to 45mbit, which is okay.

The issue is setting the custom bitrate option when deciding not to use the template. In HVEC it does absolutely nothing and no matter what I set it to, it only outputs at 14mbit. This is trash.

Going to h264, I am able to set my own bitrate successfully with anything I chose, at the expense of my output file being about 8GB.

And here is the really interesting thing.
I can compile in davinci just not make edits.... so i did some testing.
Compiling in h265 got me to about 8GB output file with 70mbit bitrate in davinci
Compiling h264 in CapCut with a custom bitrate of 80mbit, outputted an 8GB file too in davinci.

So h264 file size with my own bitrate at 80mbit in capcut, the file size is actually slightly smaller than rendering with davinci in h265 (output 45mbit). And I used highest output settings in davinci by watching a zillion tutorials.

Interesting... how do the videos look when uploaded and watched on YouTube? I just checked... and my renders are about 20kbps... and they look just fine, even my 4k footage. I am rendering at 2.7k though.

YouTube is gonna step all over it with their compression, but I looked up their recommended settings, and here's what I found:

YouTube recommended upload encoding settings - YouTube Help

These features are only available to partners who use YouTube Studio Content Manager. Below are recommended upload encoding settings for your videos on YouTube. Container: MP4

support.google.com

Your bitrate should be just fine when uploaded.

-John

 

[steveyswid]

Yeah you know I read 265 compression can literally reduce file size and bitrate by 50-65% with 4K 60fps footage. So 120mbit (65%) is about 78. And 120-78 = 42mbit and I'm in the range of 45mbit with 265.

Capcuts 265 render setting might actually be spot on.

I'm also going to switch my FPS to 30. I think HyperSmooth make up for the "smoothness" that 60fps offers.

I would do 2.7k, but CapCut only offers 2k and 4k exports.
Yes you can import a 2.7k resolution video, but it's going to scale output based on what dropdown selections are available.

 

[HippoDrone]

I'd not turn Hypersmooth up to it's max setting, it is too much for a helmetcam and makes the footage look a bit floaty and unnatural... it will also crop your footage more, which is not really a benefit either.

 

[steveyswid]

Interesting. I wonder what @Drakhen99 is using.
I think the default setting for HyperSmooth is *auto-boost* (when needed) and not necessarily *on* (always on).

​

 

[Drakhen99]

Interesting. I wonder what @Drakhen99 is using.
I think the default setting for HyperSmooth is *auto-boost* (when needed) and not necessarily *on* (always on).

​

I use a Max Lens Mod 2.0 on my Hero 12, and a Max Lens Mod 1.0 on my Hero 10 [and 9] ... and I rather like the field of view and smoothness. I have a video coming up where I compare HyperSmooth to HyperSmooth with AutoBoost... but I use regular HyperSmooth with the MLM 2.0.

-John

 

[HippoDrone]

Interesting. I wonder what @Drakhen99 is using.
I think the default setting for HyperSmooth is *auto-boost* (when needed) and not necessarily *on* (always on).

​

I'm using a Hero 10, run stabilisation (Hypersmooth 4.0) in Standard, your head does a fantastic job of acting like a gimbal anyway, so you really don't need it set high

 

[steveyswid]

I'm using a Hero 10, run stabilisation (Hypersmooth 4.0) in Standard, your head does a fantastic job of acting like a gimbal anyway, so you really don't need it set high

Yep. I think that is default. On Off or AutoBoost (assuming standard) are the options on the 12

 

[HippoDrone]

As you can see, we all like different things, so experiment and see what style you prefer. @Drakhen99 mounts his camera on the side of his helmet which is effectively always in shot, whereas I run my camera as a chin mount so I am not in shot at all, he also rides a big faired bike which combined with his head being in shot probably helps lose the floaty feeling, where I have a naked road bike and dirtbike, it is only my adv bike that has a screen, so with nothing in front of me showing I am on a motorcycle at times, it can look quite floaty if I have my stabilisation set high.