Toolvana: production-ready media tools platform (CodeIgniter 4)

- 134-tool registry with programmatic SEO (unique titles/H1/descriptions,
  JSON-LD graphs, sitemap index, canonical 301 enforcement via required filter)
- DB-backed job queue (SKIP LOCKED) with drivers: Ffmpeg, Images (GD),
  Pdf (qpdf/gs/poppler), Youtube (thumbnails), Qr (server-side PNG)
- Security: SSRF guard, MIME validation, rate limits, API-key auth,
  bcrypt admin login, security headers
- Admin panel: dashboard, tools/categories/guides CRUD, SEO audit,
  analytics, job inspector with retry, system health, feature flags
- Docker deployment (nginx + web/api FPM pools + scalable workers),
  PHPUnit suite (19 tests / 1139 assertions), PWA manifest + service worker

content/guides/how-to-compress-video.md

@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+---
+slug: how-to-compress-video
+title: "How to Compress Video Files Without Losing Quality"
+excerpt: "Why video files get huge, which settings actually shrink them, and how to hit email and upload limits every time."
+seo_title: "How to Compress Video Online – Reduce File Size Guide"
+seo_description: "Learn how to compress large video files online: CRF quality explained, resolution and codec advice, and how to fit under upload limits."
+date: "2025-11-16"
+tools: ["video-compressor", "video-resizer", "mp4-to-webm"]
+---
+
+A ten-minute phone recording can easily exceed 1 GB. Compression fixes that — but doing it *well* means understanding which knob actually turns the size.
+
+## What makes video files large?
+
+Three factors multiply together:
+
+1. **Resolution** — four times the pixels means roughly four times the data.
+2. **Bitrate / quality target** — how generously each frame is described.
+3. **Codec efficiency** — H.264, HEVC and VP9 pack the same visual content very differently.
+
+Duration scales everything linearly, but you rarely want to cut footage just to save space.
+
+## The one setting that matters: CRF
+
+Modern encoders use a *constant rate factor* (CRF) — a quality target rather than a fixed bitrate. Lower numbers mean better quality and bigger files:
+
+| CRF | Result |
+|---|---|
+| 18 | Visually identical to source |
+| 23 | Default; excellent for most content |
+| 28 | Noticeably smaller; fine for screen recordings |
+| 33+ | Aggressive; acceptable for talking-head clips |
+
+Our [Video Compressor](/video-compressor) exposes this as a simple "smaller / balanced / sharper" choice and maps it internally to sane CRF values.
+
+## Practical recipe by goal
+
+- **Under a 25 MB email limit** — compress at 28 CRF, then [resize](/video-resizer) to 720p if still over.
+- **Faster web playback** — convert MP4 to [WebM](/mp4-to-webm); VP9 typically saves another 20–30%.
+- **Archive copy** — 20 CRF, keep original resolution, accept the larger file.
+
+## Common mistakes
+
+- Compressing an already-compressed file repeatedly: each generation softens detail. Keep the original master.
+- Dropping resolution when the problem is bitrate: a sharp 720p beats a mushy 1080p on phones.
+- Ignoring audio: stereo 320 kbps audio in a voice memo is wasted megabytes.
+
+## FAQ
+
+**How much smaller can I expect?**
+Screen recordings often shrink 60–80%. Camera footage with heavy motion compresses less — motion is expensive to describe.
+
+**Will compression re-encode my audio?**
+Yes, to efficient AAC — transparent for almost all content.
+
+**Is there a file-size cap?**
+Uploads are capped per tool (the site default is generous; see the limits shown on each tool page).