Best settings for quality video upload to YT or Vimeo?

[Sean M2Pro]

Hi folks - I am new to this - so I can start on the right footing may I ask for advice on best settings/resolution and other bits to get really good quality footage up on YouTube and Vimeo. Reason I ask it seems a pity once one has filmed in 4K, H-265 etc. on a M2P to then have to ‘cut back’ when posting footage. I wasn’t able to find a thread on this issue........

Many thanks

 

[manowar_gub]

If you want to achieve best quality, you need to render in max quality - with minimum compression artefacts.
Today there is no much difference btw h264 and h265, it needs time to find new compression algorythms where h265 beats h264 ( like x264 beats h264 after 5-6 years of launching ). One moment to use h265 today - it really compress noticable better UHD videos at high bitrates ( more than 50 mb/s )
For example, in AdobePremier you can use --crf 18 or --qp 18 modes ( codec will use variable bitrate depending on scene - its better then use constant bitrate ).
Finally, depending on source (noisy, sharpness) in 4k60fps it gives ~60 to 140 mb/s excellent quality file with minimum quality loss, after uploading YouTube bitrate will reduces to ~16 mb/s and image will be acceptable quality.

 

[Sean M2Pro]

Thanks manowar-gub - very helpful - especially once I get my head around some of the technical stuff! That will surely come as I become familiar with AP or FCPX.

 

[kilomikebravo]

Mr YooToob had this to say:


Recommended video bitrates for SDR uploads

Type	Video Bitrate, Standard Frame Rate (24, 25, 30)	Video Bitrate, High Frame Rate (48, 50, 60)
2160p (4k)	35-45 Mbps	53-68 Mbps
1440p (2k)	16 Mbps	24 Mbps
1080p	8 Mbps	12 Mbps
720p	5 Mbps	7.5 Mbps

Depending on your video editor, you may be able to choose the encoding bitrate and if so, these are the values you want to shoot for. Your editor may also allow for either Constant Bit Rate (CBR) or Variable Bit Rate (VBR) and it may also give you the choice of making a single encoding pass or a double pass which will yield slightly better results depending on the content. The editor may also even have presets for the various YouTube resolutions. I personally stick to the numbers above and use VBR, 2 Pass but I don't use "Render at Maximum Depth." (In Premiere Pro CC)

 

[Sean M2Pro]

Thank you kilomikebravo; the above two responses to my query will be useful references to refer to and I’m sure for others too. This is what makes drone usage so interesting - the technical h/w and s/w side of the equipment, photography, videography and the editing, finessing and possible publishing of both. This forum has proven hugely helpful for a drone beginner like me.

 

[Bryce steiner]

Hi folks - I am new to this - so I can start on the right footing may I ask for advice on best settings/resolution and other bits to get really good quality footage up on YouTube and Vimeo. Reason I ask it seems a pity once one has filmed in 4K, H-265 etc. on a M2P to then have to ‘cut back’ when posting footage. I wasn’t able to find a thread on this issue........

Many thanks

My experience has been that once Youtube or Facebook gets a hold of it they will seriously compress it. If you have a retina display with HDR you will really be able to see a difference in your original vs what you see when played from YT (FB even worse).

 

[Sean M2Pro]

thanks and duly noted!

 

[kilomikebravo]

Sean: Happy to help.

 

[DebianDog]

if you have the bandwidth upload near uncompressed 100Mbps, high quality, because YouTube is going to recompress everything anyway.

 

[Sean M2Pro]

thanks - all helpful chunks of advice

 

[Auklet]

As is always the case with both photo and video, the settings I use depends on how the final product is going to be used. If I'm shooting footage for stock video that might end up in a commercial or documentary, then I'm going to make different choices than if I'm shooting to upload to YouTube to show off a clip to my drone friends. For me, there is never one answer for all situations.

The same goes for when I'm rendering out of Premiere. It's true if I render the highest quality possible and then upload it to YouTube, YT will compress it down to make it playable. However, I would much prefer to have control over that compression during rendering than to have YT's algorithms make those decisions for me. YMMV.

 

[DebianDog]

YouTube is going to recompress it no matter what. You will never upload a at 1080, 2k, 4k and have YouTube go OK it's ready I'm not going to recompress.

 

[Sean M2Pro]

I guess that was the nub of my original question - for those experienced in such matters - is there an 'ideal' set of parameters one should use to prepare footage for uploading to YouTube and get the best quality possible.

It seems there are two suggestions from the responses, for which thanks: 1. give YT your best possible quality and let them do their worst, or 2. Do some compression first yourself under your own known, controlled circumstances, and then post to YT who'll do their further compression.

Be interesting to know, if one posted one video adopting each of these approaches, which would ultimately give the best results?

Presumably, these points apply equally to Vimeo? But, has to be said, some of the footage on Vimeo seems great quality stuff.

 

[Auklet]

I guess that was the nub of my original question - for those experienced in such matters - is there an 'ideal' set of parameters one should use to prepare footage for uploading to YouTube and get the best quality possible.

Recommended upload encoding settings - YouTube Help

 

[Sean M2Pro]

VERY useful info in there Auklet, ta. Funny how we often don’t look in the ‘obvious’ places for solutions!

 

[DebianDog]

I have come to the conclusion unless you're doing it for a client or for professional reasons... it kind of doesn't matter. Most will just watch it on their phone or tablet. The vast majority of people will not see full 4K footage because they can't actually watch it on a screen capable of 4k. I mean think about it.. the latest greatest iPad is what? 2K? And I think there's only one phone on the planet that actually does 4K.

My highest hits on YouTube are for content not level of video quality.

 

[kilomikebravo]

Dog: I love "Matt WhoisMattJohnson" clips, he is such a good instructor.

 

[Sean M2Pro]

Great ref to Matt Johnson, thanks - just watched his M2P review - not often one can last 40min for these but he pulls it off - very pleasant engaging fellow with tons of important points made and will be a fantastic resource.

 

[manowar_gub]

VERY useful info in there Auklet, ta. Funny how we often don’t look in the ‘obvious’ places for solutions!

Youtube notes just inform you to upload #balanced# quality, because if any user will upload 150mbps bitrate file with 16 bframes / 16 reference frames, their servers can overwork ^^

Its easiest Youtube business - to get and convert 10 medium size files from 10 users than 4 excellent quality files from 4 users - YT bandwight is not elastic and servers convert each input video into ~14 files with differenct resolution and codecs (h264, vp9, avc1 for video and aac/ogg/opus for audio). Vimeo looks better because they use more bitrate than YT when compress file

p.s. In digital audio/video main quality factor is bitrate. If you compress CD into 320 mp3 and then convert to 128 aac it sound better then you compress CD into 128 mp3 and convert to 128 aac - you can test

 

[Sean M2Pro]

One thing I did learn on completing & uploading my first couple of edited YT videos recently was that there are some options/settings in YT around quality when uploading a video to YouTube.

The file sizes vary enormously, accordingly.

I also found the output/published quality varies quite significantly as well, depending on those chosen settings/options.