Two Reasons Why 

High-Quality YouTube Videos 

300 trailer

Takagi Masakatsu: Multimedia Artist

Angelina Jolie talks with Charlie Rose

Short Clip - Star Trek: Voyager " Investigations "

Cape San Blas, Florida

Hitler Meets Christ

Things To Consider Before Optimizing Your Videos For YouTube 

Important Facts

1. Read How To Shoot and Edit Videos For The Web.
2. YouTube (newest) recommended settings are:

• MPEG4 (DivX, Xvid) format
  
• 640x480 resolution
  
• 64k Mono or 128k Stereo MP3 audio
  
• 30 frames per second
  

3. Your source video needs to be ideally high resolution. For instance: MOV or AVI file, NTSC 720x480 or VGA 640x480.

4. It's very important that you keep an aspect ratio of 4:3, otherwise the quality of your video will be degraded. Flash 7 codec performs best when the frame width and height use multiples of 16. This is optimal for video playback.

5. You need to get a high quality video encoder. Keep in mind that most video editing programs such as Apple Final Cut Pro, iMovie, Adobe Premiere Pro, Windows Movie Maker or Sony Vegas, come with an encoding engine so you can export your videos directly from the timeline.

6. In Normal Mode, YouTube resizes your videos to 320x240 pixels, encodes them to Flash 7 at a data rate of approximately 250 kbps and compresses audio to mp3 (22.050 KHz, monophonic).

7. YouTube has updated its technology, and now you have the option of watching some videos at a higher quality or in Hi-Res Mode. Read YouTube High Resolution for more in-depth info.

8. In Hi-Res Mode, YouTube creates 2 new copies of your video:

• 448x336 pixels, Flash 7 video @ 900Kbps. Audio @ 44.1KHz Mono.
  
• 480x360 pixels, H.264 video @ 512Kbps. Audio @ 44.1KHz Stereo.
  

So now you're ready to watch the tutorials, try my recipe settings and you'll be on your way to optimize the quality of your videos for YouTube.

What Do You Think of My YouTube Encoding Techniques? 

Rate this lens, if you don't mind...

Thanks for your comments

ElisevanBeau I gave this lens a big high five ! great tips for anyone wanting to have their Youtube films look better. Posted May 11, 2008

Skywatcher i run ufo video blog.This info g8t for me dude thx. Skywatcher www.ufoblogger.blogspot.com Posted May 11, 2008

gaetan Appreciate it, great advice. Posted May 11, 2008

jamesmyers Helpful Posted May 10, 2008

drescher Thanks for that info! I bookmarked it. Dave Posted May 06, 2008

 

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Did My Encoding Settings Work Out For You? 

Compressing Videos for YouTube Tutorials 

The following tutorials will give you an idea on how to compress videos for YouTube, but you need to understand that the key is to input the right settings.

Compressing Videos for YouTube Using Movavi VideoSuite 

Tutorial

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.

Compressing Videos for YouTube Using Sorenson Squeeze 

This is my favorite compression tool!

Very user friendly. You can encode your video to the most popular formats in the video industry (H.264, WMV, RM, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, MOV, MP3, MP4, SWF, On2 VP6 and Spark FLV) with a variety of codec compression settings. Recommended for intermediate or expert users.

Review: Sorenson Squeeze 4.5

Squeeze is a little bit pricey, although it's worth every cent.
But you can always get a copy for a fraction of its regular price, $500, on eBay. Check it out!

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Complete Training for Sorenson Squeeze 4.5 

by Nate Caplin

Class On Demand: Complete Training for Sorenson Squeeze 4.5: Sorenson Educational Tutorial DVD

Amazon Price: $99.95 (as of 05/12/2008)
Used Price:

Learn to compress and deliver high quality QuickTime, MPEG-4, Flash, Real Media, and Windows Media files. You'll also learn to create MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 files for CD or DVD delivery. This training includes the hottest tips and tricks for outputting "Squeezed" files for use with severs, authoring programs, audio programs, multimedia presentations and much more!

Compressing Videos for YouTube Using QuickTime Pro 7 

Tutorial

Digital Movies with QuickTime Pro 

Digital Movies with QuickTime Pro (Digital Filmmaking Series) (Digital Filmmaking Series)

by John Farrell

Amazon Price: $49.95 (as of 05/12/2008)

Digital Movies with QuickTime Pro is the first comprehensive book to teach home computer users (Windows or Mac) how to make digital movies from start to finish.

Free Software for Compressing YouTube Videos 

Windows Media Encoder (WME)

Windows Media Encoder (Free)

Powerful tool for encoding Windows Media Video (WMV) Files. Though free, it has steep learning curve. Recommended for expert users.

Compressing Videos for YouTube Using Sony Vegas 

Tutorial

Download, Save and Convert YouTube Videos 

Movavi Flash Converter

With Movavi Flash Converter, in just a couple of minutes, you can save Flash video to your iPod, PSP, iPhone or any other cellphone, computer ... the list is almost endless. You can even save whole collections of your favorite viral Flash videos and convert them to the best format for burning to DVDs!

Compressing Videos for YouTube Using Sony Vegas 2 

Tutorial

DVD to YouTube Converter 

Looking for an easy tool to do the job?

Compressing Videos for YouTube Using Windows Media Encoder 

Tutorial

Compressing Videos for YouTube Using Windows Media Encoder 2 

Tutorial

Free Software for Compressing YouTube Videos 

Tutorial

VirtualDub (Free)
Very powerful video capture/processing utility for Windows platforms. Easy to use interface, although compression codec settings are somewhat for knowledgeable compressionists. Recommended for expert users.



VirtualDub or VDub is a very sophisticated encoder for those who have experience with compressing tools. A straight forward approach using Xvid codec.

Recommended Video Compression Books 

Compression for Great Digital Video: Power Tips, Techniques, and Common Sense (With CD-ROM)

by Ben Waggoner

It's an essential reference for encoding digital video and audio for the Web, CDROM, DVD, and other media. It also teaches how to use the most popular applications to optimize files for maximum quality, efficiency, and manageability.

Digital Video Compression (with CD-ROM)

by Peter Symes

Written by a renowned expert in digital technology, Digital Video Compression offers comprehensive coverage on a vast range of digital media technologies and standards. It delivers everything you need to understand the techniques, tricks, and confusing protocols of compression.

Can't Get Enough? Watch This! 

Another View On How To Upload Better Videos To YouTube

Convert Your Home Movies Into YouTube Movies 

Video Capture Your Analog Movies Into Your Computer

Convert your VHS, S-VHS, Hi8 and 8mm analog tapes to DV into your computer.

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Steve Jobs Talks About H.264 Codec 

1. Encoding H.264 Videos For YouTube 

Tips For The Hardcore Compressionists

If you got to this stage in the article then you are probably pretty serious about getting the best settings and filters compressing videos for YouTube using QuickTime Pro or Sorenson Squeeze.

1. Use H.264 codec, the best MPEG4 codec in the market today.

2. Set Quality to Best.

3. Set rate control to 1-pass Constant Bit Rate (CBR). So no Variable Bit Rate, no Multipass. YouTube transcoders prefer CBR.

4. Set key frames to every 30 frames or less. The more key frames the more information your video will have. YouTube transcoders loves keyframes. I usually set key frames every 15 frames in my high motion videos, however keep an eye on the file size.

5. Set data rate to 10000 kbps or more, depending on the running length of your video. Again keep an eye on the file size.

6. Set aspect ratio to 640x480. See recommendations for widescreen.

7. Set frame rate to 29.97 or 30 fps.

8. Set audio compression AAC: 44.1 KHz, 128 kbps, 16 bits, stereo.

9. De-interlace your NTSC or PAL source videos, especially if it's high motion

10. Apply filters to improve the look of your video: a bright/contrast filter and/or an image sharpening filter.

Remember, all these compression settings are the best compromise between keeping the video smaller than 1GB and keeping as much information as possible from the original video file.

H.264 Encoding Example 

2. Encoding DivX Videos For YouTube 

Tips for The Hardcore Compressionists

The best settings and filters compressing videos for YouTube using VirtualDub. Remember VirtualDub is a very sophisticated encoding tool.

1. Buy and install DviX Pro Codec.

2. Open VirtualDub and "Open video file" so it loads into the viewer.



3. From Video menu, choose Compression and it opens a new window. Select video compression: Divx 6.x codec (2 Logical CPUs) and click Configure.



4. Then it opens the Divx Codec Properties which has 3 tabs. Please use this DviX tutorial as reference.

5. On the Main Tab. Set Certification Profile to Unconstrained. Set Encoding Presets to 10. Set Rate Control mode to 1-pass quality-based, and Fixed quantizer to 4. This action will set the bit rate to about 10Mbps.



6. Leave Codec Tab the way it is.



7. On the Video Tab, Set Format In to the appropriate value, depending on your source and Format Out to Square Pixels. Check "No resize or format conversion". Leave everything else as default, since Filters will be used to resize, deinterlace, etc. Click OK twice to close the DivX settings.



8. Now we're ready to apply some filters. From VDub's Video Menu select Filters...Then apply deinterlace filter if your source is NTSC ot PAL video, resize filter to set aspect ratio to 640x480.



9. From VDub's Video Menu select Frame Rate...If your source is 29.97fps or 30fps, set "Frame rate conversion" to No Change. If not, click "Change to 30 frames per second". Leave everything else the same.

10. Install the MP3 codec for VirtualDub LAME MP3 encoder. Once the downloaded file is extracted, select, right click the LameACM.inf file and do Install.



11. From VDub's Audio Menu select "Full processing mode", then select "Compression...". The choose 44.1KHz 128kbs Stereo CBR.



12. Apply other Filters to improve the look of your video: a bright/contrast filter and/or an image sharpening filter.

13. From VDub's File Menu select "Save as AVI" and your source file will be processed.

Remember, all these compression settings are the best compromise between keeping the video smaller than 1GB and keeping as much information as possible from the original video file.

DivX Encoding Example 

3. Encoding FLV Videos for YouTube 

You Must Have a Flash 7 aka Sorenson Spark H.263 Video Encoder

Another way to have a high-quality YouTube video, is to avoid that YouTube servers re-encode your uploaded videos.

How can make YouTube servers not to touch my uploaded videos?

The trick is to fool YouTube into NOT re-encoding you FLV file. So the only way is to upload Flash 7 files to YouTube with a bit rate NOT higher than 350 kbps (source). That way YouTube will NOT re-encode your file. DO NOT use On2 VP6 Flash codec (FLV 8), since YouTube will re-encode your video, thus it'll be degraded. Remember, the goal is to make YouTube to accept your video without "touching" it.

NOTE: I would recommend this method if your video is an animation, a presentation, has little motion and/or few scene changes.

Which Flash encoders can I use?

Flash encoders such as Sorenson Squeeze, FFmpeg, Riva FLV Encoder or MEncoder. I particularly like Sorenson Squeeze for its user friendly interface. Flash encoders are for intermediate to advanced compressionists. They are not designed for the casual user.

Which parameters should I use with my Flash video encoder?

These are the main parameters to use with your Flash 7 (also known as Sorenson Spark H.263) encoder to accomplish the goal:

1. It's very important to have a high-quality source video.

2. Set target bit rate to 347 kbps.

3. Output aspect ratio should be 320x240.

4. Set frame rate to 15fps if your source is 29.97 or 30fps, and 12fps if your source is 24 or 25fps.

5. Set key frames to every 100 frames or more without compromising the quality of the video. The bigger the value, the smaller the file.

6. Set rate control to 2-pass Variable Bit Rate (VBR) or Multipass.

7. Set audio compression to MP3, 22.050 KHz, 48 kbps, 16 bits, monophonic.

8. De-interlace if your videos, especially if they are high motion videos.

9. Apply filters to improve the look of your video: a bright/contrast filter, a noise filter or/and image sharpening filter.

10. If your video looks good already after applying the above settings, you can still improve it, but remember you need to keep your bit rate to less than 347kbps. So you may try one or more of these settings:

• Up aspect ratio to 448x336 pixels
  
• Up audio rate to 44.1KHz 64kbps Stereo
  
• Up audio frame rate to 30fps if your source video is 29.97 or 30fps
  
• Up audio frame rate to 24fps if your source video is 24 or 25fps
  

Most of the time these improvements will look good with graphic/text videos but not with motion videos.

How can I calculate and measure the bit rate of my Flash video file?

1. Use the Flash video FLV bit rate calculator to figure out which parameters you are going to use. Select Video Codec: Sorenson Spark. Play with the Adjustments to find the best values for your Flash video encoder. Keep in mind that the calculator is not 100% accurate, so it'll be some trial and error involved. Click on the picture below to start.


by Robert Reinhardt

2. There is great free tool to get the bitrate of a flash video file called MediaInfo

FLV Encoding Example 

Using The FLV Technique for Camtasia Studio Videos 

TechSmith Codec into Flash Video Codec for YouTube

Case Study 

Putting It All Together

I uploaded 3 encoded videos to YouTube from the same source. Now the source video is an animation, namely it has far less color and luma information than a straight video.

Source Video
Video: DV NTSC 740x480 29.97fps 30Mbs
Audio: PCM 16bit 44.1KHz Stereo

Encoding Settings for Each Video:

Video 1
Video: Flash 7 320x240 15fps 250Kbs 2-pass VBR
Audio: MP3 22.050KHz 16bit 41kbs CBR Stereo

Video 2
Video: DivX 640x480 29.97fps 10Mbs CBR
Audio: MP3 44.1KHz 128kbs CBR Stereo

Video 3
Video; H.264 640x480 29.97fps 5Mbs CBR
Audio: AAC 44.1KHz 128kbs Stereo

As you can see and listen, video 1 has stereo sound and it looks fairly good. Now, videos 2 and 3 look similar to each other in normal mode, but they both look worse than video 1. However, in hi-res mode, they both look superior to 1.

This experiment shows that for an animation, video 1 like settings can be an option since it looks good enough, in spite of some blur on scene changes, but it will be displayed with the same resolution and quality, at all times and anywhere, regardless of the user bandwidth,

1. Animation 250Kbs FLV Stereo

2. Animation 10Mbs DivX Stereo

3. Animation 5Mbs H.264 Stereo

After Having Seen The Encoded Videos Above 

a%3A10%3A%7Bs%3A8%3A%22approval%22%3Bs%3A6%3A%22manual%22%3Bs%3A10%3A%22blurbCount%22%3Bs%3A1%3A%225%22%3Bs%3A7%3A%22option1%22%3Bs%3A15%3A%22FLV+Compression%22%3Bs%3A7%3A%22option2%22%3Bs%3A22%3A%22DivX%2FH.264+Compression%22%3Bs%3A6%3A%22period%22%3Bs%3A1%3A%221%22%3Bs%3A8%3A%22question%22%3Bs%3A35%3A%22Which+Compression+Do+You+Like+Best%3F%22%3Bs%3A12%3A%22requireLogin%22%3Bs%3A5%3A%22false%22%3Bs%3A9%3A%22sendEmail%22%3Bs%3A3%3A%22yes%22%3Bs%3A10%3A%22showPhotos%22%3Bs%3A3%3A%22yes%22%3Bs%3A9%3A%22stripHTML%22%3Bs%3A3%3A%22yes%22%3B%7D

Which Compression Do You Like Best?

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FLV Compression

DivX/H.264 Compression

 

 

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How To Upload Widescreen Videos To YouTube 

If you care about preserving proportion, there are two ways to resize and reformat your video:

1. Letterbox
2. Pan and Scan

Read more in these articles by Perry Valdez
How to Upload Widescreen Videos to YouTube (Letterbox)
How to Upload Widescreen Videos to YouTube (Pan and Scan)

YouTube letterboxes your 16X9 videos automatically.
However, I recommend you letterbox your videos first before uploading for optimal display in YouTube

Need One on One Consultation? 

If after reading the whole article and suggestions, you still have trouble understanding the encoding procedure for YouTube and you want to implement my recipe to your videos, you can contact me for a phone consultation.

By the way, if you have a YouTube video that looks really, really great as a result of my advice, please let me know.

Very Informative Articles 

Creating Amazing Video Content with H.264

QuickTime 7 Pro makes it really easy to create stunning video with the new H.264 video codec in QuickTime 7. Simply follow these straightforward instructions to get impressive results:

The Amazing YouTube Tools Collection

Here is a collection of several YouTube third party tools which enhance your YouTube experience

How To Upload Videos To YouTube

To get started, the first thing you should do is click on the "Upload Videos" icon in the upper right corner of the YouTube home page:

Flash Video (FLV) Compression

Nowadays, broadband connections are widespread amongst the internet. Finally, video can be effectively added to website. But which format to go for? (Flash!). And how to get it done? This article features some tips and tricks for compressing and delivering video to the web.

Poking at YouTube

Read this well thought article on how YouTube might be doing its Flash server encoding.

Encoding for YouTube Using Apple Compressor

This is a good tutorial on how to encode YouTube videos using Apple Compressor. I'd recommend you read it, however you can apply my QuickTime settings ad compare results.

6 tips for High Quality Youtube Video.

If you follow these tips you'll achieve very good results. For encoding tools go, use whatever works for you. I used QT Pro.

Can I Use Similar Settings For Other Video Sharing Sites? 

Absolutely. The video compression settings shown above will improve your videos as well on Web 2.0 video sites such as: AOL Video, Blip.tv, Castpost, ClipShack, Dailymotion, eyespot, Flurl, Google Video, Grouper, iFilm, Metacafe, MySpace, Revver, Stage6, Veoh, VideoEgg, Vimeo, vSocial, Yahoo Video, etc.

Can I Set Up A Still Picture For My YouTube Video? 

Yes you can!

Find out here!
How To Set Up The Right Poster Frame In YouTube

Would You Like To Own A YouTube T-Shirt? 

Ash Grey T-Shirt

from Tshirts For Everyone.com

Charlie Bit Me Value T-shirt

from CultClassicTs.com

I Love YOUTUBING Light T-Shirt

from I Heart Tees

See more designs like these on CafePress

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