HandBrake Guide

What is HandBrake?


HandBrake is a program used to convert and compress video files. Reducing the size of your videos makes it easier for those with a limited internet connection to access and view them. Although the quality of the videos will be affected somewhat, if done properly it will generally not be noticeable to the viewer. (Note: if you record the video using PowerPoint, you can set the video quality there and save yourself the extra work.)

How to use HandBrake

  1. Download HandBrake here. Make sure you pick the correct version for your computer and operating system.
  2. Install and open the program.


2. When you launch Handbrake you will be prompted to put in your video file, you can simply drag
and drop it into the app
3. You will be loaded into the summery tab, find category marked as Format and select either
“WebM” or “mp4”. mp4 is better however to set it as mp4 you must do some additional steps
(see the end of document BEFORE you start).
If you choose to do mp4 you should also click on the “Web Optimized” option
4. Next click on the Dimensions tab, set the dimensions as 854 x 480, this is to reduce the size of
the file
5. Next click on the Video tab, and select “Ave Bitrate (kbps)” in the box you should type 1000.
For mp4 you should also change the “Video Codec Option” to be H.264 (x264)
6. Simply click encode on the top of the screen when all of that is done!
7. (optional) to set the video as mp4 you must click on the Tools menu and select preferences.
Select the output files menu and under “MP4 File Extensions” select “Always use MP4”. You
must restart Handbrake before you can export your project.
8. (optional) if you want to avoid having to do the same steps for every video you have you can
click the “save new preset” button. just be sure to put 845 x 480 in the dimensions box when it
pops up.
9. (optional) to load a saved preset click on the preset menu, find your preset in the custom preset
submenu and select it
These new video files can then be shared on ACORN with your students like any other file, with the
benefit of less buffering!