Youtube : Guidelines

Getting Started: File formats


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Tuning your video formats for Youtube


There are a wide range of video codec formats, audio
codec formats and container formats in use
and YouTube supports a very wide variety of them. You can get a quick
overview of what may be an issue with your video's formatting by taking a
look at the messages, warnings and error messages that we communicate
to you while you're uploading your video.
Read on for more detailed
information on video file formatting.
Here's the list of some well-known formats which YouTube
supports:

• WebM files (Vp8 video codec and Vorbis Audio codec)
  
• .MPEG4, 3GPP and MOV files - (typically supporting h264 and mpeg4
  video codecs and AAC audio codec)
  
• .AVI (Many cameras output this format - typically the video codec is
  MJPEG and audio is PCM)
  
• .MPEGPS (Typically supporting MPEG2 video codec and MP2 audio)
  
• .WMV
  
• .FLV (Adobe - FLV1 video codec, MP3 audio)
  

If you are a camera or a software vendor, you’ll want to carefully
review the links below in order to better understand how to optimize
your content for YouTube:

• .MOV, .MP4, and .3GPP files
  
• .MPEGPS files
  
• .WMV files (Windows Movie Maker)
  

Tips and notes:

• You should always upload your video in the original format in the
  highest quality possible.
  
• We prefer de-interlaced files.
  
• If your file is using h264 encoding we prefer files without
  PAFF/MBAFF encoding.
  
• Audio and video lengths should be the same and audio should start at
  the same time as the video.
  

Learn More: Optimizing your video uploads


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Summary
Here's a summary of the audio and video specifications you need for
the best results on YouTube. For further details, please read the
information listed directly below this summary.
To learn more about YouTube's accepted file formats,
please visit this Help Center article.
VideoAudio

Resolution	Recommended: Original resolution of your video - for HD it is 1920x1080 (1080p) or 1280 x 720.
Bit rate	Because bit-rate is highly dependent on codec there is no recommended or minimum value. Videos should be optimized for resolution, aspect ratio and frame rate rather than bit rate.
Frame rate	The frame rate of the original video should be maintained without re-sampling. In particular pulldown and other frame rate re-sampling techniques are strongly discouraged.
Codec	H.264 or MPEG-2 preferred.
Preferred containers	FLV, MPEG-2, and MPEG-4
Codec	MP3 or AAC preferred
Preferred containers	FLV, MPEG-2, and MPEG-4
Sampling rate	44.1kHz
Channels	2 (stereo)

YouTube recently began offering users an option to view content in
high definition- 1080p resolution (when the source upload supports it). Please
note, we are currently experimenting with this feature and
optimizing it accordingly, so we can't guarantee that your videos will
always be transcoded into this format with this user option present.
For an example of a video being streamed in 1080p resolution, please
click this link and then click on the text toggle "watch
in HD" located beneath the right hand corner of the player.
For best results, ensure your video and audio lengths are the same.
If you're using an editing package, make sure that the file you upload
to YouTube does not have edit lists. Take a look at this
Help Center article to learn more.
How to best upload widescreen videos

• Originals Please!
  The less a video is re-encoded prior to uploading, the better the
  resulting YouTube video quality. We encourage you to upload your videos
  as close to the original source format as possible, with a minimum of
  intermediate re-encoding steps. Each re-encoding can generally degrade
  the quality of your video and create some specific problems too, which
  we'll address below.
  
• Aspect Ratio
  The aspect ratio of the original source video should always be
  maintained when it's uploaded: Uploaded videos should never include
  letterboxing or pillarboxing bars.The YouTube player automatically adds black bars so that videos are
  displayed correctly without cropping or stretching, whatever the size of
  the video or the player. For example, the player will automatically add
  vertical bars (pillarboxing) to 4:3 videos in the new 16:9 widescreen
  player size. If the player is re-sized (when embedded on another website
  for example) the same process takes place, so that 16:9 videos are
  letterboxed (black bars top and bottom) when the player is sized to 4:3,
  for example. Similarly, anamorphic videos will be automatically
  letterboxed when shown in either 16:9 or 4:3 sized players. The player
  can only do this if the native aspect ratio of the video is maintained.If letterboxing is added to a video before it is uploaded (to create a
  4:3 video from a 16:9 master for example), the widescreen player will
  add pillarbox bars too, resulting in black bars all around the video
  (windowboxing) and a bad viewing experience (see the diagram below).How to do it
  
  
  

  Upload a 16:9 video at its original aspect ratio (1280x720 recommended)		Video fills the YouTube widescreen 16x9 player. Nice job!
  Upload a 4:3 video at its original aspect ratio (640x480 recommended)		Video is displayed in the widescreen player at the right size and ratio with letterbox bars. Looks pretty sweet!

  How not to do it
  
  

  Add letterbox bars to the top and bottom before uploading so that the video fits a 4:3 player		The YouTube player adds pillarbox bars left and right to the 4:3 video fit widescreen. Bars surround the video. Boo!

• Frame Rate
  The video frame-rate should be the same as the original where
  possible - up-sampling from a 24fps original can cause judder artifacts
  for example. For film sources a 24 fps or 25 fps progressive master
  yields the best results while videos that have had a re-sampling
  transfer process applied - such as Telecine pulldown - often result in a
  lower quality video.
  
• Resolution
  High-definition videos are the preferred format for ingestion which
  result YouTube videos of the highest quality currently available. It
  also means your video can be upgraded as new formats are developed on
  the site.
  
• TestingSince there is no facility to re-upload videos, it's important to
  test your audio and video quality are satisfactory before you release
  your video publicly onto YouTube. Once a video becomes popular, the
  number of views, user ratings, user comments and other community data,
  cannot be transferred if another, higher quality version of the same
  video is uploaded. Make sure you get it right!