[eltoozero]

h.264 or h.265 is going to yield a much better compression ratio for equivalent quality, even after transcoding formats.

On the order of 2:1 or 3:1 vs MPEG2 format for DVD.

[ZenoArrow]

Lossy in top of lossy is never going to be the best approach for archival purposes, which is what the GP was looking for.

If the question was about balancing quality and file size I would've given a different answer.