Workflows 5 min read
Meeting and Lecture Recordings Too Large: Compress, Trim and Archive
An hour of meeting recording at recording defaults is multiple gigabytes. Screen content tolerates aggressive compression — the practical archive is 10× smaller with zero visible difference for slides and talking heads.
The archive flow
- Trim: cut the dead air before start and after end; often 5–10% of runtime.
- Compress: CRF 26–28 for screen content; slides are nearly lossless there.
- Audio-only copy: extract M4A for searchable quick review — 10× smaller again.
- Transcript: local speech-to-text turns the archive into something skimmable.
Retention thinking
Keep the compressed video + transcript as the working archive; drop the original once verified. If a raw master is contractually required, cold-storage it — the working copies cover 99% of access.