Capture / Encoding

Video Compression

The process of reducing screen recording file size using a codec — H.264, H.265, or AV1 — while preserving acceptable quality.

Video compression is the algorithm that reduces a screen recording from “lossless capture” (potentially gigabytes per minute) to a shareable file (megabytes per minute). The algorithm is called a codec (coder-decoder). The codec decides which information to discard — and how much — to achieve a target file size or bitrate.

The three codecs that matter for screen recording

H.264 (AVC) is the universal default. Every browser, every device, every platform plays H.264. If you export in H.264, it will play anywhere. The downside: at equivalent quality, H.264 files are larger than H.265 or AV1.

H.265 (HEVC) cuts file size roughly in half at equivalent quality. A 5-minute Loom at 1080p in H.264 might be 120MB. The same in H.265: roughly 60MB. The downside: H.265 playback isn’t universal (some older devices and browsers don’t support it), and encoding is slower on CPUs without H.265 hardware acceleration.

AV1 is the new open-source winner — smallest file at highest quality. In 2026, OBS Studio, Tella, and Descript export to AV1; Camtasia and ScreenFlow don’t yet. AV1 is excellent for YouTube uploads (YouTube transcodes to AV1 internally). For direct sharing via Loom-style links, AV1 isn’t yet universally supported.

Bitrate: the compression dial

Bitrate is how much data per second the codec is allowed to use. Higher bitrate = better quality = larger file.

Practical rules for screen recording:

Resolution	Use case	Recommended bitrate
1080p/30fps	Async share, tutorial	8,000-12,000 Kbps
1080p/60fps	High-motion, code with fast scrolling	12,000-16,000 Kbps
4K/30fps	Master file for archival	20,000-30,000 Kbps

The “why does my Loom look fuzzy on LinkedIn?” question is almost always a bitrate problem, not a codec problem. LinkedIn re-encodes uploaded videos at a low bitrate. The solution: export at higher bitrate before uploading. Loom doesn’t give you control over bitrate — Camtasia, OBS, and ScreenFlow do.

How this applies to the two-tool stack

Async tools (Loom, ScreenPal) handle compression for you. You don’t choose the codec or bitrate — the platform decides. This is a feature, not a bug: speed to link matters more than compression control in async workflows.

Production tools (OBS, Camtasia, ScreenFlow) give you full codec and bitrate control. This matters when you’re producing a 45-minute course module where quality degradation across two rounds of compression (capture + export) would be visible to paying students.