The Nikon ZR records R3D NE, RED’s raw codec, and the image is beautiful. The files are not. One hour of 6K full frame comes to roughly 700 GB, and 4K at 100 frames per second is well over a terabyte per hour. As a wedding filmmaker who records most of a day, that adds up fast.
So I ran a simple test: I took the original R3D files from the Nikon ZR, recompressed them with Blue Compressor at different quality levels, and compared every version on the same frame, at 400% zoom. Here is what I found, with all the numbers.
The short answer
- Q3 at native resolution saves 75 to 85% of the space, and at 400% I could not see a difference from the original in this test.
- Q2 at native resolution saves 63 to 81% and also looks identical. It is the safe choice if you want maximum headroom for grading.
- Scaling 6K down to 4K saves up to 94%, but it is the first step where fine detail softens. That loss comes mostly from the lower resolution, not from the compression.
- Q4 4K gives the smallest files (88 to 95% smaller), but the smallest text starts to break up.
What is Blue Compressor?
Blue Compressor is a free, open-source tool (Apache 2.0 licence, by redn3 on GitHub) for Nikon raw video. It works on R3D NE files from the Nikon ZR and on N-RAW files from cameras like the Z8, Z9 and Z6III. It is available for macOS, Windows and Linux, as a desktop app with drag and drop, and as a command line tool.
The important part: the output is still raw. Blue Compressor re-encodes the compressed raw data inside the file (TICO RAW, a variant of JPEG XS) with a coarser quantization, and leaves the container, metadata, timecode and audio untouched. The result is a normal R3D clip that opens in the same software as the camera original. Even the 4K versions stay raw, because the scaling is done in linear raw before the data is encoded again.
It offers four quality levels: Q1 Lossless, Q2 Archival (the default), Q3 High and Q4 Compact, which the developer suggests for offline and reference copies. It can also scale clips down to 6K or 4K UHD. The project is still an early beta, and its own documentation recommends keeping your originals until you have checked the outputs.
How I tested it
I wanted a scene that makes every bit of lost detail obvious, so I shot a wooden world map on the wall: wood grain, coloured pins and tiny printed country names. The camera did not move, so every version could be compared on exactly the same frame.
I recorded four clips on the Nikon ZR, all in R3D NE:
- 6K 25p, full frame (6048×3402)
- 4K 25p, full frame (4032×2268)
- 4K 25p, APS-C (3984×2240)
- 4K 100p, APS-C (3984×2240)
Then I processed each original with Blue Compressor in five ways:
- Q2 Archival and Q3 High, keeping the original resolution
- Q2, Q3 and Q4 Compact, scaled down to UHD 4K (3840×2160)
A higher Q number means stronger compression: Q2 gives the largest files, Q4 the smallest. I did not test Q1 Lossless here.
Everything was edited in Final Cut Pro on a 4K timeline with the same colour grade on every clip, so the only thing that changes between versions is the compression. In the video, each version appears first full screen and then at a 400% zoom on Northern Europe, where the country names are only a few pixels tall.
The results
Sizes are measured on disk (1 GB = 1000 MB). The bitrate is file size divided by clip length. The last column estimates how much one hour of footage would take.
6K 25p full frame (17.8 seconds)
| Version | Resolution | Size | Bitrate | Saving | Per hour |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Original R3D NE | 6048×3402 | 3.45 GB | 1553 Mb/s | — | ~699 GB |
| Q2 | 6048×3402 | 1.01 GB | 453 Mb/s | 71% | ~204 GB |
| Q3 | 6048×3402 | 650 MB | 293 Mb/s | 81% | ~132 GB |
| Q2 → 4K | 3840×2160 | 275 MB | 124 Mb/s | 92% | ~56 GB |
| Q3 → 4K | 3840×2160 | 222 MB | 100 Mb/s | 94% | ~45 GB |
| Q4 → 4K | 3840×2160 | 163 MB | 73 Mb/s | 95% | ~33 GB |
At 400%, Q2 and Q3 in 6K are practically identical to the original. As soon as the file is scaled down to 4K, the small text gets softer, and at Q4 it starts to break up.
4K 25p full frame (16.8 seconds)
| Version | Resolution | Size | Bitrate | Saving | Per hour |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Original R3D NE | 4032×2268 | 1.46 GB | 693 Mb/s | — | ~312 GB |
| Q2 | 4032×2268 | 272 MB | 130 Mb/s | 81% | ~58 GB |
| Q3 | 4032×2268 | 223 MB | 106 Mb/s | 85% | ~48 GB |
| Q2 → 4K | 3840×2160 | 210 MB | 100 Mb/s | 86% | ~45 GB |
| Q3 → 4K | 3840×2160 | 181 MB | 86 Mb/s | 88% | ~39 GB |
| Q4 → 4K | 3840×2160 | 136 MB | 65 Mb/s | 91% | ~29 GB |
Q2 and Q3 hold up very well. Going to UHD costs very little here, because the source is already close to 4K. Q4 is where the compression becomes visible.
4K 25p APS-C (17.0 seconds)
| Version | Resolution | Size | Bitrate | Saving | Per hour |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Original R3D NE | 3984×2240 | 1.44 GB | 677 Mb/s | — | ~305 GB |
| Q2 | 3984×2240 | 533 MB | 250 Mb/s | 63% | ~113 GB |
| Q3 | 3984×2240 | 362 MB | 170 Mb/s | 75% | ~77 GB |
| Q2 → 4K | 3840×2160 | 338 MB | 159 Mb/s | 77% | ~71 GB |
| Q3 → 4K | 3840×2160 | 254 MB | 119 Mb/s | 82% | ~54 GB |
| Q4 → 4K | 3840×2160 | 176 MB | 82 Mb/s | 88% | ~37 GB |
This was the mode where native Q2 saved the least (63%). The visual pattern is the same as in the other modes: native Q2 and Q3 stay very close to the original, and the detail drops at Q4.
4K 100p APS-C (17.2 seconds)
| Version | Resolution | Size | Bitrate | Saving | Per hour |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Original R3D NE | 3984×2240 | 5.81 GB | 2699 Mb/s | — | ~1215 GB |
| Q2 | 3984×2240 | 1.72 GB | 800 Mb/s | 70% | ~360 GB |
| Q3 | 3984×2240 | 1.12 GB | 519 Mb/s | 81% | ~234 GB |
| Q2 → 4K | 3840×2160 | 1.04 GB | 485 Mb/s | 82% | ~218 GB |
| Q3 → 4K | 3840×2160 | 801 MB | 372 Mb/s | 86% | ~167 GB |
| Q4 → 4K | 3840×2160 | 548 MB | 254 Mb/s | 91% | ~114 GB |
High frame rate is where the savings matter most: more than a terabyte per hour becomes about 234 GB at Q3. At 400%, Q3 is almost indistinguishable from the original, Q2 in 4K is only slightly softer, and Q4 loses the fine text.
All four clips together
The four original clips add up to 12.16 GB. After compression:
- Q2 native: 3.53 GB (71% smaller)
- Q3 native: 2.35 GB (81% smaller)
- Q2 → 4K: 1.87 GB (85% smaller)
- Q3 → 4K: 1.46 GB (88% smaller)
- Q4 → 4K: 1.02 GB (92% smaller)
Which setting should you use?
For archiving and editing: Q3 at native resolution. It cuts storage by 75 to 85%, keeps the full sensor resolution (including 6K for reframing), and in this test I could not tell it apart from the original even at 400% zoom.
If you want zero compromise: Q2 at native resolution. Bigger files than Q3, still 63 to 81% smaller than the original.
If you deliver in 4K and storage is the priority: Q2 → 4K. From 6K this saves 92% of the space. You lose the extra resolution for punch-ins, but at normal viewing size the difference is very hard to see.
Q4 → 4K is best kept for proxies, client previews or long-term archives of footage you are unlikely to grade again.
Limits of this test
This is one static, well-exposed scene, compared on a single frame with the same grade on every version. Fast motion, high ISO noise, very dark scenes and aggressive grading can all behave differently under compression. Your savings also depend on the quality setting you record with: Blue Compressor always quantizes relative to what the camera recorded, so the developer’s own sample clip shows smaller percentages than mine. Blue Compressor is still an early beta, so test the setting you choose on your own footage and keep a backup of the originals until you are sure.
Watch the full comparison
The video shows every version full screen and at 400% zoom, with the file size and bitrate on screen, so you can judge for yourself.
Alex Sofo is a wedding and commercial filmmaker. See more work at alexsofoweddingfilms.com.