Video sharing is gaining more popularity than ever, but there are still some obstacles to overcome — mainly the video’s size. That’s where Stomp comes in. Stomp is a simple app with a not-so-simple task: reducing a video’s size into something more manageable for whatever use is intended for it. If you have to process many of these over-sized videos on a regular basis, surely you’ve been wondering whether there’s a good all-in-one solution — so check it out, as Stomp may be the answer.
Design. Stomp follows the trend of one-windowed interfaces that are part of many popular Mac apps — it is designed as such in order to ensure ease of use without sacrificing functionality. That is something the final user will appreciate, without a doubt. Stomp, in a few words, has style and substance from the first glance.
Functionality. The app was designed for the user that wants their fantastic, albeit big, video to be shared — but its size doesn’t make that task easy. Stomp will be able to compress any QuickTime-compatible video to a smaller and friendlier format. There are many presets built into the app, but creating your own is just as easy. Besides compressing the video, Stomp also allows the user to crop the video, cut away unnecessary parts, and even add some special effects. I tried Stomp with both a movie trailer and the movie itself — and the results were quite good. Stomp was able to cut down each file to roughly half their size (both were encoded at maximum settings) and still maintain a good quality for the intended use (Apple TV).
Limitations. If there’s only one thing that may annoy some users, is that it only works with QuickTime-supported formats. If you wanted to convert your MPEG-4 video to, say, AVI, you’re out of luck.
Final thoughts. As far as video compression goes, Stomp excels at the task. Thanks to its powerful features, simple interface, and efficient batch processing, it’s not hard to recommend this app as one of the best in the market right now. A single license costs $29.95, and there’s a demo available for anyone interested in trying it out.
Arjun Muralidharan on June 24th, 2008 at 3:44 pm says:
Good review, Frank. But it isn’t clear whether Stomp changes the actual aspect size of the file (in terms of height and widht) or just compresses the file size? Or both?
Frank on June 24th, 2008 at 4:02 pm says:
It is able to change both the video’s size and quality. Its controls make it easy to adjust the setting to your liking, or use one of the presets — such as formatting the video into an iPod-compatible one. I am sorry if I wasn’t clear on that.
Sandy on August 4th, 2008 at 10:01 pm says:
It does indeed change aspect ratio. You have to specify how much, and the filters are simple to use … apple tv animation etc!