If you compress video, you’ve probably accumulated a small battery of
compression tools-each tailored to a specific task or file format. You
may have different programs for DVD- and Web-based video, as well as
multiple codecs for specific formats, such as Windows Media, QuickTime
or MPEG-2. Why so many programs and codecs? You want the best tool for
the job, and no one-it seems-has managed to gather the best tools into
a single application.

That may change with the introduction of Sorenson Squeeze 4 Compression
Suite. This deceptively simple application handles most professional
video formats, including Windows Media 9, RealMedia, QuickTime, MPEG-4,
MPEG-2, MPEG-1 and AVC/H.264. Because the Squeeze 4 interface is
uncluttered and consistent throughout the various formats, production
houses can now hand over many of their compression tasks to employees
who don’t have a lot of technical expertise.

Best of all, Squeeze 4 is fast and produces excellent results. With
Web-based projects, you can use it to retain as much resolution and
clarity as possible, while reducing your video to a manageable size.
Squeeze 4 does an especially good job with Flash files, where you can
save your video to either a Flash video file (.flv) or Flash movie file
(.swf). You can customize many of the compression settings, though the
options vary according to the format. For example, you can add a visual
watermark when compressing to a QuickTime file, which isn’t an option
with any of the other formats.

Other useful features include HD resolution encoding, batch processing,
two-pass encoding for higher-quality video, custom filters, and direct
capture from computer-connected DV sources.

There are limitations to this approach. Squeeze 4 is essentially a
closed system. You can’t share the Squeeze 4 Compression Suite codecs
with your other programs, and you can’t use your other codecs with
Squeeze 4. And while Squeeze 4 is relatively comprehensive in its
selection of settings and codecs, I did find a few omissions. The
Windows Media 9 codec doesn’t support 5.1 audio, even though that
option is included with Microsoft’s own encoder. And there’s no
provision for compressing to DivX, even though that format is beginning
to turn up in portable video devices, such as the Archos AV420.
Fortunately, you can always revert to your previous compression tools.

We’re not yet at the point where a single application can serve every
video compression need. On the other hand, Squeeze 4’s speed, quality
and convenience are so strong, you’ll want to use it whenever and
wherever you can.