Optimise your videos and free up HDD space
Looking to convert videos into a universal format guaranteed to play on just about any device? Then you need a video converter capable of encoding your video in the universal H.264 or H.265 codec, wrapped up in a MP4 file container. You could use the codec’s own command-line tool, but that becomes unwieldy when you realise just how much fine-tuning’s required to compress your video to a small enough file without making it unwatchable.
What you need is a point-and-click solution in the form of Handbrake (https://handbrake.fr). The program gives you full control over your video conversions via a more user-friendly graphical front end. However, its vast array of options and tabs can make it confusing for beginners. Never fear: read on for our exhaustive step-by-step guide to the whole process.
As per usual, Handbrake can be installed through Ubuntu Software – but it’s not the latest version. To ensure you’re running Handbrake 1.3, open Terminal and issue the following commands:
Two versions are available: a GUI and a CLI. We’ll be focusing on the GUI in this tutorial, so install it thus:
$ sudo apt-get install handbrake-gtk
Handbrake off!
Launch from the Show Applications menu. Step one is to open your source: this can be a single video file, all the files in a selected folder, a disc image (such as an ISO file) or a DVD. Wait while scans the file or folder for
