Hello! I recently listened to a podcast that talked about how storing media files in .av1 format is very efficient and storage-friendly. I’ve been storing my files in .mkv format, but now I’m considering using Handbrake or a similar service to convert all my video files to .av1 if it’s more compressed than .mkv. So;
- What format do you store your media?
- What is the optimal way of storing media?
- Do you use handbrake or similar services (feel free to suggest) to convert media files?
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The future is av1. Is it worth it to compress everything asap? No. Not all devices can play av1. You will still shoot pictures and videos in 264 or 265. Can you already edit av1? Do you do that? Check that everything you own and do can work with av1. You should prefer 265 over 264 nowadays.
Is it worth it for your own videos? It depends. If you have a lot, like terrabytes lot, of your own videos. Then yes, you could save storage. But, the time it’ll take to reencode and the power consumption it needs isn’t worth it. Just use av1 from nowon whereever possible if you export videos instead of 265 if all your devices and clients and friends who you’re sending them to can play it. I converted all old media to 265 two years ago (or so) to have everything compatible. I do not plan on converting to av1 just for storage reasons. Storage is cheap compared to the time I invest in caring about it. Converting for compatibility yes, storage no. I switched to immich and I have no files on my phone or laptop anymore.
Torrents? No it’s definetly not worth it to reencode. The guys who release the files are aware of av1 and they will switch as soon as almost all devices support av1 and people scream for it. It is not worth it to reencode imo. Just redownload once it’s available. You can push av1 adoption by releasing videos in av1 yourself. Ask for it. Talk about it. Spread the word.
.mkv is just a container and can contain any encode. All my av1 encodes are .mkv files.
But the majority of my videos are in h264 for compatability, though I’ve been adding more av1 and h265 encodes lateley. But storage isn’t much of a concern for me.