How can I reduce the size of MPEG Video files?
Compression and / or reduce the pixel depth + resolution.
Like tweaking graphic images (I believe! Don't do much with video other than watch!).
Scott s.e.t.
Scott's right. Playing around with the compression level, frame size, and bitrate will yield different results. The lower for all of these, the smaller the file size will end up, but of course, with diminished quality. What is your delivery medium? Web? CD? Email? Your best bet for web is to use a streaming server so you can keep the quality higher but deliver only as needed. For CD's, crank the quality up until the file just fits. For email, you may want to link to a streaming server as in the web example. Post if you have additional ?'s.
Must the file be in MPEG format or would a different format suffice?
Similar to jpegs, aren't mpegs already well compressed?
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I don't use MPEGs myself, but I think Scott is correct in that the MPG algorithm already compresses the video based on the quality level you select, just as with JPG.
Certainly running JPG files through PKZIP or other compression utilities results in little or no reduction in file size.