COMPRESSING YOUR VIDEO:

**Most importantly: your video can't be over 100MB in size!**

Okay, we're going to be honest with you: there's no way we can make exporting/compression guides for every kind of video software on the market. There's just too much variety! However, we do want to give you some guidelines for compressing the video file you want to upload to StrangerFestival.com.

So read these tips, find the corresponding settings in your software, and you should be able to make it work for you!

Note: Usually these settings are under "Options", "Advanced" or "Expert Settings", after you selected export/save movie.

Windows Movie Maker will pick best quality WMV. This is fine.
For Adobe Premiere, iMovie, Final Cut Pro, Pinnacle and other programs, follow these guidelines.
(Keep in mind that it's always good to check the video quality before uploading and see if you are satisfied.)

* Prefered file formats:

1: .mov (quicktime, apple)
2: .avi (can contain many codecs)
3: .wmv (windows media video)
4: .mp4 (mpeg-4, also m4v)

* Prefered video codecs:

1: H.264, high quality, around 1500 kbps
2: H.263, high quality, around 1500 kbps
3: MPEG-4, high quality, around 1500 kbps
4: WMV-9, high quality, around 1500 kbps

* Prefered audio codecs:

1: AAC, around 128 kbps, 44.1 khz, stereo
2: Little Endian, around 128 kbps, 44.1 khz, stereo
3: MP3, around 128 kbps, 44.1 khz, stereo

* Prefered file sizes:

With the settings above, your file will be around 12 megabytes per minute. Consider that uploading this file can take a while. For higher quality and HD, increase the values above. For smaller filesizes, reduce them a bit a check if the quality is still good enough.

* Other settings:

- Usually the frame rate is set automatically. In most countries it is 25 frames per second. In North-America it is 30 fps.
- If you need to set keyframe manually, choose to set one every 30 frames. This is basically how often the compressor uses an uncompressed frame as a reference.
- The best resolution is the resolution of your source material. If it's not all the same size, a good one to use is 640x480 (for regular video) or 1280x720 (for high definition). Please note, 1440x1080 videos will not be widescreen on StrangerFestival.com, you must compress them as 1280x720.

These are some basic principles that will apply to almost all of the video programs out there.

UPLOADING YOUR VIDEO:

In order to upload your video tot StrangerFestival.com, you need to create an account. This process is self-explanatory, but keep in mind that you use a valid email address, because you will be sent a confirmation email to activate your account. If you don't get the email it might get stuck in you spam filter so check this.

Uploading takes a while, also depending on your uploading speed, and once your video is uploaded, it needs to be compressed, this happens every couple of minutes. You will be sent a confirmation email once it's done, or you can check it after a few minutes on strangerfestival.com to see if you've succeeded. Good luck!

If you still have a question about compressing or uploading just send an email to: stranger@eurocult.org and he will help you as soon as possible!

The Stranger Team