1. What is Video Resizer?

Video Resizer is a browser add-on that helps you easily resize a video file. It uses the FFmpeg library which is compiled from C and C++ language to JavaScript with the Emscripten compiler. Emscripten is a source-to-source compiler that can compile native C/C++ codes to JavaScript language. To work with this add-on, just open the app interface and drag a video file to the designated area in the app. Then, adjust your settings from section I and finally press the - RESIZE - button. You can see the ongoing process within the console area. Once the resize operation is finished, the resulting file will be downloaded to your machine.

2. How can I work with this add-on?

As mentioned above, simply open the app interface, then drag & drop desired video file inside the app (rectangular area at the top). Next, open the setting menu and adjust your desired values. Within the settings section, there are 5 options to choose from. The first option is few common social media dimensions (i.e. 640x360 px). The second option is choosing the bitrate for the final audio and/or video streams. You can add both or just one of these values. The third option is to choose the final width or height in percent. For example, if you want the final video to have a 50% width comparing the original video, please enter 50 as the width value in the designated area and leave the height field empty. The app automatically adjusts the height value based on the width property. The fourth option is similar to the third one but you need to enter the desired values in pixels. Please note that either the width or height value needs to be added not both. In option 5, however, both width & height values for the final video are needed. The app adjusts the resulting video by adding padding to the final video file when needed. So for option 5, please add both desired width and height value in pixels. When you are done with settings, please press the - RESIZE - button to start the operation. A loader will show up at the top section and the current progress percent will appear next to the input file area. Please wait for the operation to finish and once done, the final video will be downloaded to your machine in the default download folder. During the resizing operation, if you want to stop the process, please click on the - CANCEL - button at the bottom of the interface. Alternatively, you can press the reload button at the top-right corner.

3. How can I download the source code for Video Resizer?

To download the source code for this extension from Chrome Web Store, it is recommended to use Extension Source Downloader. With this addon, you can download the source code as a ZIP or CRX format to your machine. If you want to download the source code from the Firefox addons store, please open the firefox download link (if available) in the Firefox browser and then right-click on the - Add to Firefox - button and select - Save Link As... - item. Choose the destination folder on your machine and then save the file in XPI format. You can then rename the XPI format to a RAR or ZIP file. Some extensions may have a GitHub repo address, which you can use to download the source code as well. But, it may not be the latest version of the addon. Therefore, downloading the source code from the official web stores is the best option as it always gives you the latest version of the addon.

4. How does Video Resizer addon work?

This add-on uses the free and open-source video editing library called FFmpeg. FFmpeg is originally written in C and C++ languages. But within the browser, only JavaScript language is accepted. Therefore, this addon uses a compiled version of the FFmpeg library in Javascript language. The compiled version is the result of the Emscripten compiler. Please read this page to get more info about Emscripten compiler. The compiled FFmpeg library is also available in this GitHub repo. Because this library runs in JavaScript, the performance and speed might not be as good as the original C/C++ library. So please keep this in mind when working with this addon. Try to avoid resizing large video files as it may introduce lags to your browser. Moreover, since this technology is still a work in progress, you might see some bugs or crashes in this app. In the case of errors, please try to reload the app and start over the resizing operation.

5. How do I turn the extension OFF?

When app UI is closed, this addon is completely OFF and has no usage (RAM/CPU) on your system at all. Alternatively, if you want to completely turn off the addon, please head to the extensions tab in your browser and then click on the disable button from there.

6. How can I reload the app UI?

When you open the app UI, you will see a reload button on the top right corner. Please press on this button to reload the UI. Also note that, reloading the UI will terminate all active operations and reset the resizing process.

7. How can I download the resized video file?

Once a resizing operation is done, the final video file will be downloaded to your machine. Alternatively, you can click on the download button in the result section, next to the output video area.

8. How can I change the download path for the converted file?

To change the download location, please head to the settings tab in your browser and then find the download section. Within this section, you can adjust the download path. This will globally change the download location for all your downloads in the browser.

9. Can I also resize audio formats with this addon?

This addon is specifically designed for video file formats. For resing audio files, please use a different app/plugin.

10. Does this addon has comparable performance to native FFmpeg applications?

No, since this addon runs FFmpeg in the browser, it runs slower than the native FFmpeg applications/library. However, using the addon is very easy (in fact much easier than the native FFmpeg command-line tool). Simply add it to your browser and it starts to work without any additional plugins. The native FFmpeg library is rather hard to use and may be difficult to install on different operating systems. But this addon is supported on all major browsers and platforms. Please note that, for large video files, you still need the native FFmpeg library. This addon is only suitable for moderate resizing operations.

11. Where can I find the privacy policy for Video Resizer?

Please read the privacy policy for this extension here.