YouTube is a place where you will find everything that can be expressed in the form of video. There are short as well as some lengthy video contents.
A long-duration video content as well as a short one, which is engaging at the same time is significantly more dominating than other short-term video sharing platforms. It takes more amount to plan, edit, mask, and upload even a single video.
A small inconsistency here can have a big impact. Your content may get fewer views and watch time and you are unaware of that.
YouTube supports more than dozens of file formats. It’s pretty easy to choose the best, the more detailed in sound and video quality format. However, if you are not finding the right option, it can impact the quality of video that may affect the audience retention.
In this post, I will be telling you the best YouTube video format for your channel. There are some other technical things to which I will make you familiar. But before have a look at what video formats does YouTube accept?
What Video Format Does YouTube Accept?
Here is a list of the video formats that YouTube accepts.
- .MP4
- .MPEG4
- .MOV
- .WMV
- .MPEGPS
- .AVI
- .FLV
- 3GPP
- WebM
- DNxHR
- ProRes
- CineForm
- HEVC (h265)
The majority creator, however, prefers the.MP4, .MOV, and.MPEG4, etc. the reason They are easily editable and convertible and also compressible to the best size than that of others.
Best YouTube video format
Although YouTube can accept several video formats. But the best recommendation is the one which produces the best quality on their platform.
Talking about the format, it’s none other than.MP4 which according to YouTube and its file codec’s is the best quality so far. However, it is necessary to keep the H.264 codecs and the aspect ratio of the video consistent and preoptimized.
The standard aspect ratio for a YouTube video should be 16:9. Uploading the video in this particular aspect ratio will help YouTube to automatically frame the video and display it to the best of experience, without any little cropping or stretching.
Other recommendation by YouTube for upload encoding:
- The container should be MP4
- The audio codec should be AAC-LC with channels stereo +5.1 and sample rate 96 kHz or 48 kHz
- Video codec should be H.264 as mentioned above with high profile, CABAC, and Variable bitrate and closed GOP.GOP of half the frame rate.
- The frame rate of a video may include 24,25, 30, 50, and 60 frames per second. however, other frame rates are also acceptable.
- Deinterlaced content should be uploaded.
Some technical terms to know
Creating a YouTube channel is easy but nourishing it perfectly in every aspect needs some technical skills before you manage them.
Once your video is ready there are few things you should care about in general to maintain consistency. It will ensure you perfect fitting and good looks as well as enhancement to the quality and retention.
- File Size
The maximum file size of a YouTube video should not exceed 128 GB or 12 hours. There are already some older videos longer than 12 hours but they are trimmed off as per the new guidelines of YouTube.
Also, this is a craziness sort of stuff from my view to upload such long unless the video is a crash course or continuous coding. You may lose your subscribers in that case.
- 16:9
The aspect ratio of the videos must be 16:9 if you really want your content to have the best viewing experience. This ratio is best for mobile users from where 70% of traffic comes.
- Thumbnail
Update your video with a customized thumbnail rather than using one that has been automatically grabbed. YouTube generally takes a random snap from your video and put it into your thumbnail. These don’t have potential enough to gain impressions.
- Music
Try to insert the music which is compelling to your user. You can make your own audio file, voiceover or download and convert in mp3 from video files. Music is an important part of any video, so choose which type of music is best for your video.
Conclusion
YouTube is a great platform for the part-timers as well as full-timers. But in most of the cases, it requires full-time to create eye-catching content.
You might be doing a lot of works on creating and editing. A little effort in the end to perfectly format the video can help you grab the good reach of the audience. Choosing a wrong file format can throw all your efforts into the shallow water.