Most people don’t know much about video encoding, and media sharing platforms thrive on that fact.

When you upload a video format that cannot play on the web (such as a .mov, or anything that isn’t in the h.264 codec) to a media sharing platform, it automatically creates a proxy file that can be properly viewed. But what happens to the original video?

It stays and — unless you have a need for the original file — wastes unnecessary storage space.

We see this happen all the time; clients will upload massive files only for them to be reduced to ~75 MB proxy files with indistinguishable quality. If you have a large media library, then you could be wasting upwards of half of a terabyte’s worth of storage.

Sure, you could always encode your own video with tools like HandBrake or Adobe Video Encoder, but those types of programs can be intimidating and time-consuming to use. Even then, you still need to upload the video after.

Luckily, Simian has a solution for this: the Real Time Video Encoder. Capable of both encoding files and uploading them directly to Simian, this invaluable tool could save you dozens of gigabytes worth in file space per upload, depending on how large the original video may be.

Simply drop your files in and let Simian do the rest!

Download the RTVE here.