# Today I figured out how to make compressed video files with lossless video with lossless audio.
# I used a program called FFmpeg to create a MKV file that compresses video using the VP9 codec and audio using the FLAC codec. Here’s the DOS incantation that makes it happen.
#Lossless Video and Lossless Audio as a MKV file
ffmpeg.exe -i "%~1" -c:v libvpx-vp9 -threads 11 -lossless 1 -pix_fmt yuv444p -c:a flac "%~n1.mkv"
# VP9 and MP4 video codecs are both capable of lossless compression if you use the right settings. But VP9 tends to be a little smaller and is more compatible with older software such as VirtualDub when it reads the video using Windows codecs.
# This is not the first time I’ve experimented with lossless compression. Until now I have been using AVI files that store video compressed using a codec called TSCC, which came from the Camtasia screen recorder software. An excellent program that I still use to this day. But it has been 20 years since that program came out and newer compression formats can create files that are about half the size.
# How do I know if it’s lossless? By recording one of my pixel-art games, exporting a single frame from the middle of the video, and then using Photoshop’s magic wand tool to see if each color is uniform.
# I only care about lossless compression for the original recording, because I can make changes and conversions without destroying all the tiny pixels I drew.
# For presentation I don’t mind using normal lossy compression, since the human eye won’t be able to tell the difference, especially in motion.
# That said it is technically possible to display lossless video in a browser. A WEBM file can also store VP9 compressed video. But the audio has to be lossy. So it’s not quite good enough for archival purposes.
#Lossless Video and Lossy audio as a WEBM file
ffmpeg.exe -i "%~1" -c:v libvpx-vp9 -threads 11 -lossless 1 -pix_fmt yuv444p -acodec libvorbis -f webm "%~n1.webm"
# Lossless MP4 is possible but not all web browsers can play it.
#Lossless Video and Lossy audio as a MP4 file
ffmpeg.exe -i "%~1" -pix_fmt yuv444p -c:v libx264 -qp 0 -preset veryslow -c:a libmp3lame -abr 1 -b:a 128k -threads 10 "%~n1.mp4"
#Video Formats Over the Years
# This information will almost certainly change in the future. While this technique will continue to work, newer compression formats emerge all the time. I have watched video compression constantly change over the past 40 years, so nothing remains “standard” for long. Here’s a rough timeline just off the top of my head.
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# Around 1991 Cinepak was created to enable playing video from single-speed CD rom drives.
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# Around 1995 MPEG 1 was the best video codec and built into things like the PlayStation 1.
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# Around 2000 Sorenson Video was the best video codec in Apple’s Quicktime video player and Macromedia Flash, with better compression and image quality.
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# Around 2001 DVD used MPEG 2 compression and the PlayStation 2 could play them.
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# Around 2004 AVI files with DivX compression were the king of pirated video, able to (just barely) store an entire movie on a single CD-r.
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# Around 2006 the PlayStation 3 came out with Blue-ray disc support which used MP4 h264 compression, so that format took over most hardware video players and graphics cards.
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# Around 2015 web browsers added the ability to play WEBM compressed with the open-source VP8 codec, to avoid paying MP4 patents.
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# Web browsers then added (open-source) WEBM with VP9 compression
# Every new codec creates smaller files with better image quality. It has been quite a ride.
# Here in 2025 it currently feels like MP4 with h264 compression is still the safest format, because every device can play it at the moment. This could change. Back in 2010, Adobe Flash felt exactly the same way. But when web browsers dropped it after 2020, Flash “vanished” overnight.