Best iMovie settings for YouTube Upload and HD Playback

Hello, I've tried using the various online suggestions for obtaining the very highest possible quality playback of my HD videos when I upload them to YouTube and...frankly...have not noticed any difference between using simply the 1080 export option and then uploading them into YouTube.
Well, of course, the fact that going through the QuickTime export option takes a lot more time and creates a file that is huge.
So, what is the consensus?
Is shooting HD video on a HD camera and then importing and exporting from iMovie's automated settings really resulting in appreciably lower quality in YouTube HD playback?
Would appreciate any thoughts on this.

There are YouTube presets in Adobe Media Encoder. Just choose H.264 as the format and then choose one of the YouTube presets.

Similar Messages

Best BIOS settings for Kt3 Ultra2 and Geforce4?

Hi,
Can someone tell me what the best BIOS settings would be for my KT3 Ultra2 running a Geforce4 ti4200?
I get crappy scores in 3dMark2001 SE and I have the infamous stuttering/crashing problems in 3D games. I've tried pretty much every configuration of settings and drivers I can think of.
I saw on these forums that the Kt3 Ultra2 can be a bit fussy with GF4 cards. If someone could post the best BIOS settings for performance and stability I'd be eternally grateful.
Alternatively, email me at [email protected] with them.
Thanks in advance

very very similar as far as i can make out

What is the best HD output settings for YouTube uploading?

Trying out iMovie '09 for the first time.
I shot a 2.5 minute video (AVCHD) and with
the video output settings I selected it is taking
about 20 minutes to encode.
That is way too much time...or is it?
Based on a YouTube video I watched on editing
in iMovie '09 I set my video and audio outputs as follows...
* Export using Quicktime
* File Format: MPP4
* Video Format: H.264
* Data Rate: 8192
* Image Size: 1920x1080HD
* Frame Rate: 60
Encoding: Faster Encode
Audio Data Rate: 256kbps
Encode Quality: Best
Now where can I improve encoding time without sacrificing
a huge amount of quality in my YouTube upload? I really want
the upload to look crisp HD on YouTube.
Thanks

For what it's worth, I used these settings earlier today in a test.
Share/Export Using QuickTime
Movie to MPEG4
Options:
h.264
10,000 kbits per second
1920x1080HD
Frame Rate 30
Keyframe: Automatic
Main Profile
Single Pass.
Here are the [results for 1920x1080|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdBwUzWZf9M]
Other test results are in [this thread|http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2579263&tstart=0]
By the way, there is nothing magic about 10,000 kbps. If you used 16,000 kbps, it would be roughly the same data rate as Apple Intermediate Codec. But since YouTube does not penalize you for using a high data rate, as long as it fits their time limit, you can err on the side of high quality. The trick is to start high and then back off until you notice the quality dropping. In your case 8,000 may be fine.
My guess would be your frame rate is the issue. Most AVCHD camera shoot 30 frames per second (or 60 interlaced fields per second).
Message was edited by: AppleMan1958
Message was edited by: AppleMan1958

Best Share Settings for YouTube

Hi, Could someone tell me what the best Imovie HD6 exporting settings are for uploading to YouTube? I'm trying to get the best quality image for my 8 minute video but still be able to upload under 100meg.
I've read on the YouTube site that MPEG-4 at 30fps & 640x480 is the best setting for the best quality results. But when I do that I still end up with a rather pixalated video. I've tried using the standard setting of Web Streaming (12fps, 320x240) but that's also rather pixalated.
Thanks for any thoughts.

Hi Steve
I don't often drop into Discussions these days as the resident experts are excellent but in the past I have had disappointing results with mpeg4 to YouTube until I used Matt's own QT setting settings.
I have and use Flash and on Sunday I tried encoding and uploading my YouTube with Flash. I used the suggested settings and it looked awful! Flash likes to encode from uncompressed footage and I have learned your footage has to be shot with Flash in mind. I then uploaded the same item using Matt's settings and it really looked passable. I could play them side by side. I am not a perfectionist and as long as my videos look OK I am happy.
Now YouTube is allowing a larger upload size I push the quality higher than Matt's and I keep the frame rate at exactly half. I use Pal so it is 12 but for NTSC it is 15. You can be pedantic and make it exactly half the NTSC frame rate which number escapes me at the moment as I never use it. This is best.
Remember to deinterlace but you know that.
So here they are - credit and thanks to Matt.
'I have found that if you are using "special effects" on your movies they do not reflect very well on you tube- If you make a clean movie with no effects than that comes out better. I use Imovie to Qtime export to my own settings for "movie" or .mov. the settings are:
Compression: H.264
Frame Rate: 12 fps(smaller file size)
Key Frame: AUTO
Quality: Medium ( again, smaller file size)
Encoding: Best Quality
Data Rate: AUTO
Size: 320x240
Sound ACC-48 khz( you can change this , BUT my Videos are mostly MUSIC- so this sounds better, If your is only the true sound of what you have recorded, like people talking etc- then you can change to lower settings, thus giving you a smaller file size)
I have found that the key to you tube is
1) if you use certain GEE THREE or any other effects, NOT ALL MIND YOU- that your movie will look crapy.
2) if you use higher settings than i have stated here you file will be large(hopefully under YOUTUBES 100 mb limit), BUT if your file is very large the movie will stutter, or stop during playback- and other viewers on YOUTUBE probably will move on to the next video of choice and thus all your hard work will go unseen.
So i use these settings keep the effects to a minimum and they seem to work fine-hope this helps any one,
matt
Lastly I do use effects sometimes so I make a clean copy of my iMovie, that is I export it to QT then I import it back into a new iMovie project so it is just one clip. This can fool YouTube. I made a YouTube using a slideshow from iPhoto
and I used random transitions expecting the worst and to my surprise it looked quite good.
If you want to look you can go see DIYTVMovies My Secret Garden
http://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=mQ_9Hhg-lRk
which is the director's commentary to show how I did it. Now again this is not Hollywood quality but for a beginner it is acceptable. I like the sound quality iMovie gives. The other version for my friends had sound edited on Final Cut which was compressed and not as good.
If anyone has better settings let me know.
Jane

FCE Export Settings for Youtube - SD and HD footage

I made a 7 minute video in FCE that combines photos and video shot in both SD and HD. I would like to upload this video to youtube, and I believe it needs to be exported to Quicktime movie first before I can upload it to youtube. I have researched this issue and tried many different export options, and the closest I have gotten still results in some black spots showing up during playback in quicktime. Can someone provide standard advice on the best settings for exporting from FCE in this situation?
I have FCE v. 4.0.1, QT v.7.6.9, and my movies were little movies shot from my Sony Cybershot camera and my Nikon D90 (some in SD and some in HD - by accident). Still pictures are included in the movie from both of these cameras as well.
Thank you for your help!

The simplest way to produce good quality video for the internet is:-
1. File>Export Using QT Conversion.
2. The "Format" window should say, "QT Movie".
3. In "Use" select "LAN/Intranet" from the dropdown menu.
4. Click "Save" and when it has finished encoding, upload it.
Do not mess about altering audio settings, frame rates etc.
Using the above settings an 8 minute video would be encoded in around 20 minutes (depending on computer speed) and would be well under 100MB.
Is that too big?
Message was edited by: Ian R. Brown

Best Export Settings for DVD burning and Computer viewing

Hello,
I am trying to export a 1 hour video that I need to be compatible with standard DVD players as well as viewable on any computer.
Original footage was shot with a Canon 5d Mark ii in 24fps.
I have done all of my editing in Premiere Pro CS6. From there, I exported a high quality file to bring into Media Encoder (for trials of best output). My master file from Premiere was exported with the Preset MPEG2. The only thing I changed in the preset was VBR from 1 pass to 2 pass.. This gave me a 6.2 GB file.
I then brought that file into Media Encoder where I have tried the following presets:
MPEG2-DVD - Match Source Attributes
MPEG2-DVD - NTSC 23.976fps Widescreen High Quality
MPEG2 - HDTV 720p 23.976 High Quality
MPEG2 - NTSC DV High Quality
These settings have encountered various issues.. some have significant banding, but most importantly, none of them will play on my DVD player when I burn them to a disc.
The discs I am using are Sony DVD-RW with a 4.7GB capacity.
Where am I going wrong here? From what I've read, the format needs to be MPEG2 to be viewed on DVD... Sorry if I sound ignorant! This stuff is tricky..

First off, don't export your timeline and then take the result to AME to re-encode, this is compressing your video twice and degrading quality (not to mention takes extra time and hard drive space). Always export direct from Premiere to Media Encoder. If you must use an "intermediate" file as part of your workflow, perhaps to archive a completed video that might later be exported to other formats, then use a lossless codec such as UT or Lagarith (free downloads).
For DVDs, you MUST use "MPEG-2 DVD". Other forms of MPEG-2 are not appropriate, as the official DVD specification requires that the MPEG-2 file has certain attributes. Not recommended to use "Match Source" for ANY export, just choose an appropriate setting as needed.
This should be correct for your application - MPEG-2 DVD > NTSC 23.976fps Widescreen High Quality
If you want to encode a DVD file over 1 hour in length, then you will need to adjust the encoding bitrate so the resulting file will fit the disc. Rule of thumb is 560/minutes = bitrate, but you might round down the result a bit to allow for menu overhead and such, depending.
Once you export the "MPEG-2 DVD" file, you can NOT simply burn that file to DVD media. That is only creating a DATA disc and it will not be playable in a DVD player (though a computer or PS3/PS4 may work since they can play most media files). To make a DVD that works in all DVD players (and meets the spec), it MUST be "authored" in a program like Adobe Encore. This compiles your content and menus and all that and then writes the result to the disc in certain way so that DVD players can read the disc. If you open any DVD on your computer, you will see a folder called "VIDEO_TS" and inside that there are .vob files and others. That is a proper DVD. And once you have a proper DVD, you can't simply copy the VIDEO_TS to another disc (as DATA), you must tell the burning software to create as a "VIDEO DVD" and not DATA, or it again won't be readable in a DVD player. Very picky spec, sorry.
When using AME to export MPEG-2 DVD, it will create two files, audio and video (.m2v and .wav), you will then Import both of those into Encore together. Note that you CAN import other formats into Encore, such as .avi but Encore will then transcode that to the correct MPEG-2 format anyway, so best that you take charge and create the right media in the first place in AME before you get to Encore.
EDIT: In AME, any time that your source is higher resolution than the destination, such as HD to DVD, you can check the "Max Render Quality" button in AME to provide the best downscale quality.
EDIT 2: I see you're using DVD-RW media. That is fine for experimenting, but for delivery to clients always use good quality DVD-R or DVD+R media. DVD-RW may not have the best compatibility with players and costs more anyways. DVDs are so cheap now that I just proof to DVD-R and toss the bad ones, up to you.
Thanks
Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

Best Settings for Youtube Upload?

My source is an xvid avi file with the following attribudes:
Frame Width: 624
Frame Height: 352
Data Rate: 1043kbps
Total Bitrate: 1166kbps
Frame Rate: 29 frames/sec
All I am doing is trimming the clip and adding a credit screen on the end. What are the best settings to get the least resolution loss when uploading to YouTube? I also want the video to fill the whole screen, I was having problems with it adding horizontal bars as well, I do not want them I want it to stretch.
I tried searching for this answer already, thanks for your help!!

There are YouTube presets in Adobe Media Encoder. Just choose H.264 as the format and then choose one of the YouTube presets.

Best camera settings for youtube videos

What settings should I shoot video at in order to get the best youtube output? My choices are 1920x1080-30; 1920x1080-24; 1280x720-60; 640x480-60; crop-640-60
I'm wondering if it's better to compress a high quaility video, or can I shoot at low quality and get the same results?
I have a Canon 60D and CS4 master collection with Premiere Pro and Encore.

Use the preset under H.264 and set the framerate the same as your footage.
Do a little experimenting, you dont have to upload the whole movie, couple of minutes is enough.
HD footage can be upload as HD so why go for low.

Best exporting settings for Youtube?

I have finished my movie and I don't know which settings would be best for uploading into YouTube as HD.
The video in my movie is shot in AVCHD 1920 x1080.
I tried looking up on YouTube for documents (and on user-made videos) the best settings to choose, but whatever information I find is either incorrect or outdated.
Can you help me?
- Using Adobe Premiere Pro CS 4

"MP4 is H.264. Now, there are many H.264 CODEC's. Many have had better results for Lead's, or MainConcept's, over Apple's. Which one do you have instaled.
Also, YouTube changes the "rules" quite often. One needs to check with them. Also, as Curt points out, it takes them a bit to encode to their settings du jour.
Good luck,
Hunt"
You're right, I looked at something else and that confused me and probably confused you (the helpers) even more, so sorry!
Which one do you have instaled.
- I'm not sure what you're asking, but I don't think it matters anymore.
Also, YouTube changes the "rules" quite often. One needs to check with them. Also, as Curt points out, it takes them a bit to encode to their settings du jour.
- Yes YouTube changes their rules often, but I can't find YouTube's properly organized specifications and that is why I'm having even more trouble, but thank you so much.
You really do need a lot of help Ryan!
You should have edited your project by matching what you shot with a matching preset.
What you have done ...
I did match the preset, what I meant was when I'm exporting it THEN I changed it...
The Youtube encode preset as advised is correct. You will find it in the H264 encode options.
You will need to fix your timeline first.
I think you got confused by my diction, but you still helped me so THANK YOU! :]
You are making it too hard.
You are starting with HD Widescreen video. I assume you are editing it in an AVCHD sequence to match.
So; export using ame; choose X.264 as the format and "Youtube widescreen hd" as the preset. Thats it. Dont mess with anything else.
Simple and clear, thank you.
Should I change the width x height, or keep it as 1280 x 720 (which is the preset under H.264 - Youtube Widescreen HD)?

BEST COMPRESSOR SETTINGS FOR YOUTUBE VIDEO?!?!?

I have about a 3 min 30 sec video that I am trying to put up on youtube. I see on some youtube videos quality is still sometimes good, and on others its terrible. I am wondering what type of setup I can use in compressor to get the best quality out of my video after uploading to youtube!! Thank you

This article is awesome:
http://www.kenstone.net/fcphomepage/youtube_compressorgary.html
Hope that helps!
~Luke

What are the best sequence settings for a movie to be put on youtube?

I am making a video that consists of mainly jpegs and audio. The final movie needs to be crisp and fairly high resolution because the pictures have some house plans that need to be easily read.
I have tried the following settings only to get a blurry image result in the end:
Frame Size: 960x720 Aspect Ratio: HD (960x720) (16:9)
Pixel Aspect Ratio: NTSC - CCIR 601 DV 720X480
Editing Timebase: 29.97
Quicktime Video Settings:
Compressor DVCPRO50 - NTSC
Quality: 100%
This seems to me like it should be a crisp enough image result but the end result is very poor. When I use the H.264 Compressor instead of DVCPRO50 - NTSC, the image is much sharper but the faded transitions are sometimes choppy, and you have to render the timeline with each change you make. Please help me find the best overall settings for smooth editing and sharper image.
Thanks,
Caleb

Your settings -- between the Compressor, Pixel Aspect Ratio and Frame Size -- are oil-and-water.
If this is going to YouTube (meaning not going to be viewed on traditional TVs) and it's mainly Photos, try using this:
Frame Size: 1280x720
Aspect Ratio: HDTV 720p
Pixel Aspect Ratio: Square
Editing Timebase: 29.97
Compressor: Motion JPEG A
Quality: 100% (though in a lot of cases, you could drag this down to about 75-80% and quality will not suffer)
Unfortunately, you won't get much (if any) real-time effects. Unless, of course, you're on FCP 6 or later, where you can use a ProRes compressor instead. But with your signature saying 10.4. something, I wasn't sure if it was safe to assume that. The Motion-JPEG setting should work in all versions.

Best PE7.0 export settings for Youtube HD, Vimeo or Smugmug?

Hi all,
I'm really new to video editing and I can't find any recommendations on the best Premiere Elements 7 export settings for Youtube HD, Vimeo or Smugmug. It seems like most of them want you to upload in 1280x720.
My original source is 1920x1080 30p AVCHD from a Canon HF100. Obviously, I would like to keep it at the same frame rate. There doesn't appear to be a preset in PE7 (or a way at all) to output 1280x720 30 into an MPEG container with H.264 encoding. When I go into the advanced properties of a preset like "H.264 1920x1080i 30" or "MPEG2 1920x1080i 30" and choose 1280x720, I no longer have an option for 29.97 fps - the only options are 23.976 or 24 fps. It seems bad to change this, right?
I see the preset for "HD 720p 30" which appears to be MPEG encoding of the video stream instead of H.264. This seemed to work OK, but I wasn't sure about it, because when I choose it I see in the description a line that says TV Standard: NTSC. A number of web sites indicate that H.264 is preferred, but I don't really understand why.
I also found a way to do H.264 in a Quicktime container. This seemed a little suboptimal because you can't do variable bitrate. When I unselected the "select bitrate" checkbox, it seemed like a quality of 50 yielded a .mov file with a bit rate of 2.87Mb/s, and a quality of 100 yielded a .mov file with a bit rate of 26Mb/s. It is confusing to me how the quality setting affects the bitrate on the quicktime containers.
I'm leaning towards using the "HD 720p 30" preset and working with the bit rate choices, but am open to comments. What do others think?
And on a related question - assuming we choose the "HD 720p 30" preset as a starting point, given the 1GB file restriction at Youtube, it seems to make sense to choose a bitrate that allows both good quality and reasonable file size. I don't know much about whether VBR 1 pass, 2 pass or CBR would be best for this kind of online HD video. Google is a little unhelpful here: http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=132461
This page (http://webvideotechniques.com/123/bigger-and-better-encoding-for-youtube-hd) seems to indicate aiming for a bitrate of 8Mbps with a minimum of 4Mbps, including 2 pass VBR.
So, basically, I'm confused and a little overwhelmed. I think I have solutions that work, but it's hard to tell. What does the greater community think? Thanks.

Thanks very much E Mann, that was a very helpful thread. I think it actually would apply for youtube as well. For other users, here's a direct link to the settings for Premiere Elements:
http://eugenia.gnomefiles.org/2007/12/08/exporting-with-adobe-premiere-in-720p/
Roughly, the answer is:
Quicktime container
Video codec: H.264
Quality: 80 (I used 100 and it just takes longer to encode)
Frame Rate: 29.97 (I guess if you are shooting in 24p, this might be different)
Bitrate: 5000 (I might try 8000)
Audio codec: AAC
Output channels: Stereo
Frequency: 48kHz
Now, my own personal changes to this recipe are:
Quality: 100 - takes longer to encode, no file size difference
Bitrate: 8000
Frequency: 44kHz (recommended by youtube)
One final note is that for Vimeo it appears you may have to try encoding in 29.97 or 23.97 and test to see which you like better. Apparently Vimeo caps fps at 24.
The nice thing about this is that you can get a quality video directly out of Premiere Elements and you don't have to pipe it through another program.

Best HD export settings for YouTube

I am looking for some info on what export settings to use for YouTube with HD video. I want to export everything in 1080 (not 720) so I can also upload to Vimeo. Can someone please explain (or link) to me how I should export.
This is my first time using HD video, I shoot in 24fps onto HDV tapes.
I am not sure what else I need to know (or do) to export in the best quality.
THank you in advance!

Any other input for this topic?
I have been searching around for the past week for a solid export setting.
I've tried the above settings but I have yet to see the final product because it takes FOREVER to export (the estimated time just keeps going up and up, never down).
I found a setting a few weeks ago and used it but I cannot find it again. It did not take too long to export and the final product looked amazing both in Quicktime and on YouTube/Vimeo.
Anyone that would like to share their settings for an upload to YouTube/Vimeo, please do, I am in need.
Thanks!

Best Quicktime Conversion Settings for YouTube Posting

Hey there,
I'm using Final Cut HD with a Powermac G5 and osx 10.4.
I'm outputting a couple of sequences for youtube (not of my own volition!) - is there someone who can let me know what they think are the best output settings for posting to Youtube? The video is NTSC with soundtrack, and it should stream down regular dsl/cable.
Youtube says on the website to upload mpeg4 video as a recommended format, but in the menu system for FCPHD there is mpeg4 as a file format and as a video format? Which do they mean?
Any advice from youtube posters would be much appreciated, I know this is a generla question but I don't have that much time to research all the options in detail!
Many thanks to all!
Best
Richard, UK

http://www.kenstone.net/fcphomepage/youtube_compressorgary.html
Hope this helps. Not sure it's the most uptodate, but It's a start.

What are the best settings for Youtube videos using Camileo X200

What is the best video settings for the x200 for youtube videos. 720p-30/ 720p-60/ 1080p-30 .
Thanks

Hi
In my opinion the 720p-30 is good enough for Youtube.

Best iMovie settings for YouTube Upload and HD Playback

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for