How to compress media files in PowerPoint to reduce file size

I was in training recently and someone wanted to email their client a PowerPoint presentation with a video embedded. The video file was large, and they didn’t have a hope of sending it with Outlook. Being a government organisation, they weren't allowed to use tools like WeTransfer.

When starting a full-day training session, I always ask my trainees what they expect to get from the session. It’s a great opportunity to check that I cover everything they want and ensure they get what they need. I often hear things that I hadn’t planned on including and can then ensure that we cover them and keep my trainees happy!

In this session, someone had a video they wanted to send to a client and the file was too big. I asked a few questions and found out that they wanted to send the file by email and that their client would most likely be playing the presentation at their desk, on a small screen.

This extra information is important because if a video file is compressed for email sending and then played at a conference on a large screen the quality would be poor. And our audience experience is important, at the end of the day!

How do we compress the media within a PowerPoint file? Let’s take a look.

I’ve inserted a video file recorded from my phone into a PowerPoint file that is 1 minute and 20 seconds long. My file size has shot up from 3 MB to 170 MB, which is far too big to send by email.

To compress the video, click on the File tab and choose Info from the sidebar. Look at the Media Size and Performance section. This gives you an overview of the file size and how big your media files are. My video file is contributing 165 MB to the overall file size!

Let’s compress the video to make it smaller. Click on the Compress Media drop-down menu for the compression options. There are three options.

Full HD (1080) – Save space while maintaining overall audio and video quality.

HD (720) – Quality will be comparable to media streamed over the internet.

Standard (480p) – Use when space is limited, such as when sending presentations via e-mail.

In this example, I went for Standard, as my client wanted to send the file by e-mail. When the compression is complete you will see a window saying the space saved from the compression. In this example, I saved 139.8 MB!

My video quality is fine when watching on a desktop monitor, but not good enough for a large screen, but it is now it is small enough to send via e-mail.

If the compression you’ve chosen is too low you can always undo it, by going back to the Compress Media drop-down menu and choosing Undo.

Thank you for reading this article. I'd love to hear your feedback on media compression. If you need assistance with presentation training within your organisation, please reach out!

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