I consider my self somewhat knowldgeable about most coputer related things yet I'm having a bit of difficulty in understanding the whole transcoding process.

1. Does transcoding alter the origanal file in any way?

2. Will the file size increase, and if so by how much?

3. Or will their be an entierly new file created?

Or am I just completely off the mark here?

Oh and on average how long does it take to trans code a 120 min movie with a file size of about 1gb, on average or in general?

Thanks!