YouTube High Definition

1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic by 22 people | Log in to rate

Ranked #28 in How-To, #305 overall

YouTube HD Is Here to Stay!

YouTube has just announced that users now have the option of watching some videos in 720p HD. These streams are available on certain videos, depending on the source file uploaded to YouTube.

The ability to upload higher quality videos means improved sharpness and visual clarity for some YouTube videos. It's very noticeable in videos that contain text or fast movement and also in full-screen mode.

However, there are some important things to consider that you need to know as a video content provider, so you can make the right decision.

First Things First! 

Get The Latest Flash Player

You must have Flash Player 10 or later installed in your computer to be able to watch higher resolution YouTube videos.

Adobe Flash Player

Compressing YouTube HD videos 

What format do I need to encode my videos with?

For the highest quality, YouTube now recommends these setting for your video:
  • H.264, MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 format
  • 1280x720 resolution
  • 44.1KHz Stereo MP3 or AAC audio
  • Frame rate as the original video
  • Up to 1GB file size and 10 min. duration
However, YouTube accepts a wide range of video file formats such as .WMV, .AVI and .MOV. Again, you may get the best results from converting your file to MPEG4 video with MP3 audio.

Viewing YouTube HD videos 

What do I need to set up in my account?

On your YouTube Account page, click on Playback Setup and you're now able to choose "always show me higher quality when available" or "I have a slow connection. Never play higher-quality video" which is set by default.

So if you want to turn on HD, you must set "I have a fast connection. Always play higher-quality video when it's available" but only if you have a fast internet connection, otherwise you might find that videos don't play as quickly or smoothly.

Video Playback Quality

Just Click "watch in HD" 

Forcing YouTube to Play HD Videos 

Normal Mode, Hi-Res and HD Mode

Provided that the user, you're watching, uploaded a high quality video with the specs above, you should be able to force YouTube to display hi-def videos even though you're not logged into YouTube.

For instance, this video displays in normal mode:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfWXRybZS4A
Now, for the same video to display in hi-res mode or HD mode, the trick is to append &fmt=6 &fmt=18 or &fmt=22 to the end of the URL.

&fmt=6 increases the resolution from 320x240 to 448x336, Flash 7 video @ 900Kbps; audio @ 44.1KHz 96Kbps Mono CBR. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfWXRybZS4A&fmt=6

&fmt=18 increases the resolution to 480x360, H.264 video @ 512Kbps; audio @ 44.1KHz 128Kbps Stereo. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfWXRybZS4A&fmt=18

&fmt=22 increases the resolution to 1280×720 (720p), H.264 video @ 1024Kbps; audio @ 44.1KHz 232Kbps Stereo. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfWXRybZS4A&fmt=22

How Can I Embed a High Quality YouTube Video? 

Append The Right Code for HQ and HD

If this is the YouTube video URL:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCCmB6WvMI0

For HQ
All you need to do is append &ap=%2526fmt%3D18 to the YouTube URL video.

Then the video URL will look like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCCmB6WvMI0&ap=%2526fmt%3D18

And the embedding code will be this:
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/oCCmB6WvMI0&ap=%2526fmt%3D18"></param>param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/oCCmB6WvMI0&ap=%2526fmt%3D18" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

But there is an easier way, just use the code generator to embed your video.

For HD
All you need to do is append &ap=%2526fmt%3D22 to the YouTube URL video.

The video URL will look like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCCmB6WvMI0&ap=%2526fmt%3D22

And the embedding code will be this:
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/oCCmB6WvMI0&ap=%2526fmt%3D22"></param>param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/oCCmB6WvMI0&ap=%2526fmt%3D22" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

YouTube Goodies 

YouTube Layouts
BackgroundTube.com is here to serve one very small purpose, to give you free, professional looking backgrounds to use on your youtube channel. Backgrounds you find here will always be free and awesome.
Amazing YouTube Video Tools Collection
This is a collection of the best Youtube tools, hacks, mashups and top ways to download Youtube videos.

How Can I Encode My YouTube Videos Using The DviX Codec? 

You Can Choose Among These Three Encoders

The DviX codec is one of the codecs recommended by YouTube, and the one I prefer over Xvid.

So there are basically two ways to do this. One is using a simple video encoder and the other is using a sophisticated video compressing tool.

The software programs I recommend are: DviX Converter, Movavi VideoSuite and VirtualDub. They all need the DviX Pro Codec in order to work. DviX is a flavor of MPEG4 video codec standard.

1. DivX Converter 

A basic DivX encoder

Convert nearly any popular video format to a DivX video by simply dragging and dropping it onto the DivX Converter.

Use DivX to convert all of your media!

It takes just two easy steps to convert your files to DivX video. Just drag your video onto the DivX Converter and click 'Convert.' You get the point. It's really, really easy to create DivX videos.

DivX Converter has four preset profiles. Choose the profile that best matches the device on which you expect to play your DivX video.

DivX Video Profiles

DivX Author


The DivX Converter still manages to pack in some advanced features for those who like more control. You can tweak encoding settings to create a video converted to your precise specifications:

  • Resize videos
  • Specify output file sizes
  • Change encoding bitrates

DivX File Settings


DivX Pro

2. Movavi VideoSuite 

A no-brainer way to compress using DviX

Movavi VideoSuite ($59.00)
This encoder application can convert your video into YouTube-compatible formats in no time. It even includes special presets to adjust your movie for sharing on YouTube. 1-click encoding for YouTube! Recommended for novice or busy users.
Free trial here.
Remember, the DviX Pro Codec needs to be installed in your computer for The Movavi encoder to work using the DviX setting.

curated content from YouTube

3. VirtualDub 

If you're an expert compressionist, use this encoder

VirtualDub (Free)
This is my favorite tool for compressing videos using DivX. It has all kinds of settings which allow me to configure in expert mode the DivX codec and produce DivX videos. Remember, the DviX Pro Codec needs to be installed in your computer for VirtualDub encoder to work using the DviX setting.

Open VirtualDub, and "Open video file". This load the file into the viewer, input on the left and output on the right, as it's shown in the picture below:

 

Then you need to compress video using DviX Pro Codec and audio codec using the LAME MP3 encoder. The VirtualDub tutorials below will get you familiar with the encoder.
curated content from YouTube

How To Configure DviX 

The key part, is to configure DviX within VirtualDub, and this DviX tutorial will help you choose the right settings for the codec.

DivX Settings Configuration

I applied the recommended YouTube settings,
including the DivX codec to my video below.

curated content from YouTube

But There's Always a Catch

Users with fast connections will be the ones to experience YouTube's upgrade, while other users might want to stick to the classic view, otherwise they will encounter slowness while trying to play a video.

So What Encoding Technique Should I Use? 

This Is It!

YouTube has a wide range of viewers who hate waiting long for a video to play, as YouTube wants as many people as possible to access its site. Users can choose the version in which videos play smooth and quickly, rather than having to wait a long time for videos to play.
featured lens How to Make YouTube Videos Look Great

The key for YouTube to display your video the best possible way, is to upload the best possible quality video that meets or exceeds their requirements. That is by encoding videos the right way.  I'll show you a few ways on how to enco...

Hope This Was Helpful 

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  • Reply
    neenee neenee Jul 13, 2009 @ 10:27 pm
    this totally worked. i posted a video and i looked like crap then i figured this out and it looks amazing! thank you so much!!!
  • Reply
    submerged-arc submerged-arc Jun 25, 2009 @ 11:59 am
    Hahaha the skateboarding bulldog was hilarious! That dog's figured out how to go around corners. I can't even do that (tried like 2x) and I'm human.
  • Reply
    Mike Mike May 21, 2009 @ 4:48 pm
    This is awesome. I uploaded a few vids to youtube and they came looked horrible. Youtube doesn't give the option to view my vids in HQ but when I add fmt=18 to the url they look HQ like other people's vids. It's 1000 times better. fmt=22 doesn't work for me unfortunately but 18 is fine. I can't complain. Do you know if there's a way to add this fmt=18 code to my vids so that when someone clicks one of my vids on youtube, they get it in HQ or at least make it so they have the option to switch to HQ? Thanks!!!
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