Re-encoding legacy 480p content to H.264 or H.265 using VBR and appropriate quality settings (e.g., CRF 22–24) can reduce file size by 70–90% with no visible loss.
The Persistence of Bloat: Analyzing the Inefficiencies of the 480p Standard in a High-Definition Ecosystem bloat 480p
Much 480p content was originally encoded with MPEG-2 (DVD standard) or early MPEG-4 Part 2 (DivX/Xvid). These codecs have compression ratios far inferior to modern standards like H.264 (AVC) or H.265 (HEVC). A 90-minute 480p MPEG-2 video might occupy 4–5 GB, whereas the same content in H.264 at 480p could be 500 MB or less without perceptible loss. The legacy codec overhead is pure bloat. Re-encoding legacy 480p content to H
Strip unnecessary audio tracks and re-encode essential audio to AAC or Opus at 96–128 kbps stereo. A 90-minute 480p MPEG-2 video might occupy 4–5