Video Compression for the Web — Avoid Blocky Artifacts

Macroblocking shows up on gradients—skies, skin, and keynote slides. Fix encode settings before you blame the camera.

Choose H.264 + AAC for compatibility

AV1 is tempting but still flaky on older mobile inboxes.

Two-pass when it matters

Single-pass screams on talking-head + slides hybrids.

Audio

Passthrough AAC when the source is already 128 kbps stereo—re-encoding buys nothing.

Blockquotes flag myths: “just crank CRF until it fits” usually wrecks motion.

After export, trim dead air with our video trimmer primer in the tools hub.