How To Post-process a screen recording

If you’ve recorded your screen or a video call, the job is not done. You need to post-process. Use Handbrake for it, with the following settings:

‣ In the Audio tab, set Mixdown to Mono [1] and Bitrate to 64 kbps [2]:

‣ In the Video tab, set the Video Encoder to x265 [3], the Framerate (FPS) to Same as source, and the Level to 6.0 [4]:

This drastically reduces file size without hurting quality.

‣ If you’re occupying a small portion of the video, with too much space around you:

Crop it:

A subtle crop can improve it.

‣ In the Dimensions tab, set Resolution Limit to None [5]. Set the Cropping to None unless you’re cropping:

‣ In the Chapters tab, turn off Create chapter markers [6]:

All this covers transcoding.

[1] There are two reasons why you should convert to Mono. First, stereo recording can sometimes sound as if your voice is to one side. If you turn your head, the voice moves from your left ear to your right. This is distracting. The second reason is that stereo wastes space, and isn’t helpful for spoken content.

[2] Higher bitrates don’t sound noticeably better. Stick with the default AAC. Don’t choose other codecs like MP3, AC3 or HE-AAC — these produce bigger files that don’t sound better.

[3] Don’t choose older formats like H264, MPEG4 or MPEG2 — they produce big files with low quality. Don’t choose VideoToolbox, since that produces 30% bigger files. Don’t use 10- or 12-bit: it’s unnecessary for screen recording, and stutters while playing unless you’re using the latest devices. Leave the quality at the default RF 22 — smaller files are worse, and bigger files are not noticeably better.

[4] Otherwise, you’ll get an error.

[5] Otherwise, the resolution may be reduced, which you don’t want. If you’re screencasting a coding session, the code will be less clear.

[6] It doesn’t make sense when you have only one chapter.