PURPOSE: To provide a video signal recorder capable of efficiently recording high quality video signals.

CONSTITUTION: This recorder is provided with an encoding efficiency variable high efficiency encoder 12 for encoding the output video signals of a video signal storage device 11, a data storage device 13 for storing the output data of the encoder 12, a decoder 14 for decoding the output data of the encoder 12, a signal degradation amount measurement device 15 for comparing restored video signals with source video signals which are the input of the encoder 12 in the same part for respective partial video signals divided into plural and measuring a signal degradation amount in encoding for the respective partial video signals and a system controller 17 for repeating the adjustment of encoding efficiency and high efficiency encoding until the maximum value of the signal degradation amounts for the respective partial video signals measured in the encoding of the video signals of a finite length becomes less than a fixed value and maximum, determining the encoding efficiency at the time of recording, performing the high efficiency encoding of the video signals of the finite length by the determined encoding efficiency of the recording and recording the obtained data in the data storage device 13.