How could I compress a video, but keep the quality?

[starlight aquatic]

I make videos in Sony Vegas 8.0, and when I finish, they usually save as files that are 4BG+. 8GB is the biggest so far.

When I save them to upload to YouTube, I save them as .avi and use the uncompressed template (I don't know if this is important, but I'll include it. Audio: 44,100 Hz, 16 bit, Stereo; video 290.790fps, 720x480x32). If I try to upload them to YouTube this way, the upload just fails, so I upload the finished video in Windows Movie Maker and save it as a movie there. It also saves as a smaller file, so I can delete the space-devouring monster I made in Vegas (man, does that sound weird).

If I make a normal movie, the quality is great, and there's a "view in high quality" option for it on YouTube. But if I make a slideshow, the quality is terrible and the option is unavailable. I'd like to have great quality for both, but I don't know any other way to do it than to save the video in Windows Movie Maker. Someone told me about Xvid (I already have DivX, so..), but I went to the website and it didn't seem to be what I was looking for.

In conclusion, I'm looking for a free program that easily compresses a video for me, but keeps the quality. It may seem like I'm asking for a lot, but I'm sure there's some sort of program out there. Even a trial would be fine, as I'm finishing my last slideshows for a while. I appreciate all and any help, even if I don't reply with thanks. n.n; S'early, and if I leave I wouldn't want to come back and revive a useless thread.

[Ghost Of Rydian]

Download and use SUPER video converter.
http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/video_encoders/super.cfm

Drag your file(s) to convert into it (like, literally drag them onto the program while it's open), and set the output container (very top-left option) to WMV.

In the video options, change the resolution to something like 640x480 if it's larger than that. If not, leave it alone.

If the audio matter, then.. for the framerate, play around with them! Choosing the wrong one can make the audio go out of sync with the video later on in the video (the converted version), if you see that happen, drag the original into SUPER again, and try a different framerate until you find the right one.

Then right-click SUPER and choose "output file saving management". Choose a folder to save the converted version of the video files.

Then tell SUPER to encode. Then use the converted files and it should work fine.

[laureta]

since you already have vegas 8, you have everything you need. i've found that for youtube, uploading in wmv format yields reasonable results. to save in wmv format, just select render as under the file menu and then select wmv format from the save as type dropdown. a 5 minute video will result in a 30-40MB file upload to youtube. uncompressed avi files can be many times this size which could exceed youtube's upload file size limit, which i think is 1GB, about the size of one of my typical huffyuv masters for a 3 or 4 minute amv.