Let’s see what is the format that allows you to retain the highest quality when you upload your video to YouTube. In case you do not know, in fact, once YouTube has acquired the video on its servers, once the upload is finished, it proceeds to recode it and therefore it is important that we provide a file with the highest possible quality and with the specifications that you require.
CODEC
Let’s start with the CODEC. The choice is almost obvious and falls on the ubiquitous H264. Used both in the acquisition phase in many camcorders, and in the distribution phase, it is the best option even when we want to share movies on the Web. The reason is very simple: with the same file size, it provides the best quality. Then, in your editing or encoding program, select it. Of course it would be nice if it ended here. Actually, this algorithm can have variations within it, which I will not explain in detail because it is a very complicated and long speech.
What you need to know is that the H264 profile that YouTube asks us is HIGH, its entropy mode is CABAC and obviously it must be progressive and not interlaced, since we are going to upload a video that will be seen on PC, smartphone and tablets and not on old televisions. Regarding the bit rate, that is the amount of data per second, YouTube tells us that we can leave it automatically, even if as a reference it suggests selecting 8000Kbits / sec for movies in FullHD and 5000 for movies in HD.
We can increase these numbers, but keep in mind that as they grow, the size of the files increases, with more time to load and more space for storage.
CONTAINER
Regarding the extension, that is, the container, mp4 is the best option. Obviously, the frame rate, that is, the number of frames per second, must be the same as what you recorded and edited at.
PHOTOGRAMS TO THE SECOND
For example, if you choose 25 frames per second in these two stages, make sure it is the same when uploading.
AUDIO
Ok, this for the video part. And for the audio?
The choice here falls on the AAC-LC codec, which is obviously stereo and with a sample rate or sample rate of 48Khz.
I know it sounds complicated, but once you dictate these parameters into your encoding program and save them, you just have to select them when exporting and you can forget about them. You may be thinking: but my program already has the ‘export to Youtube’ function, can’t I use it? The quick answer is: you could do it, because in any case they generally have parameters that go more or less well with what YouTube asks us.
However, if you want maximum control and quality, create a preset with the parameters that I told you before, and that I will now quickly summarize:
H264 codec with HIGH profile, CABAC entropy mode and bit rate that can be automatic or 8000 Kbits / second for FullHD movies and 5000kbits / sec for HD movies
extension in mp4
number of frames per second that is the same as the one you recorded and edited as long as it is between 24 and 60 fps
Progressive and non-interlaced movies (for example, 1080p and not 1080i)
48 kHz audio, compressed in AAC-LC
