YouTube Question Uploading to YouTube

[tom kimpo]

when I upload to YouTube the video doesn't upload in full 1080p quality. I filmed my content on a GoPro Hero 9 in 1080p resolution, I use my iPhone to get the videos off my GoPro using the GoPro app, these videos were then saved to my iPhone photo library. I then used my MacBook Air and the iMovie app to make the video. I added music to the video, the video was 3:07 mins long. once I'd made the video I saved it from iMovie to my document files. The first time I saved I saved in the best quality possible, the video was 3.29GB big for some reason. I tried uploading this video but the quality wasn't good, so I thought it could be the size of the video. I managed to size the video down to 429.8MB which showed the same good quality as the original, this was done by saving the video when having it open in QuickTime player( I exported it in 1080p). I tried uploading this video next and got the same results. so any help on why my video isn't full quality, the vid is pixelated, its as if the video is set down to 720p even though its selceted in 1080p. Any advice on YouTubing, editing, uploading etc would be helpful as I'm new to all this.
Cheers in advance

 

[Travel Interesante]

A few things here, firstly OP is stating he pulls the video clips from his GoPro through the app on to his Iphone before editing them. I apologize for my ignorance as I've never used that method before for my hero 8, but does the app pull all clips in at its original quality on to your phone? I always pull my clips off from the micro SD card. My only experience with using clips directly from my phone has been with my old DJI Spark via the DJI app and I know those video clips are not at their original quality when I pull it off the app and appear at a lower resolution, especially on larger screens. This may be one problem you are facing.

Additionally, I am unsure if they fixed this for the 9, but GoPro's 1080p (at least up to my version the 8) has a known history of appearing "soft" when you blow it up on to a screen that's bigger than a phone. Most videos and forums I read recommend shooting in 2.7k or 4k for that reason (though the trade off is bigger file sizes).

Also YouTube does in fact "downgrade" the quality of your video when you upload. It won't drop the resolution, so your 1080p video will still be 1080p, but it does compress the file size as small as possible to keep YouTube running smoothly and that may take some quality out compared to the original clips. A good amount of bigger creators (Potato Jet, Matti Haapoja) have videos about this. They film in 1080p hd for YouTube, but export the video from Premiere Pro as a 4k video. It doesn't change the actual resolution of the video, but YouTube compresses 4k videos a good bit less than HD videos. I am unsure if you would have this option on IMovie though.

Of course as others have stated, within the first few hours, YouTube won't render an HD version of the video sometimes, in this instance it pays off to upload a bit earlier than you intend to actually post the video to the public so it'll have time to render properly before it is live.

Hope this helps.

 

[SILTHW]

Moving to the YouTube Discussions board since this isn't specifically a TubeBuddy question.

Upon upload, YouTube begins to transcode your video to the format they use for streaming. The first version they produce fairly quick is an SD version, usually at 360/480p. If you view your video before the HD version is rendered, you are seeing this lower quality version.

Right now we are seeing people complain that transcoding the HD version is taking an unusually long amount of time. That is likely why you are seeing poor quality initially.

 

[Beanie Draws]

I've had some shorts videos (less than 1 minute long) take a few hours to render, and I've had some 30 minute long videos render within 5 minutes. There's not really much you can do about it because it's all reliant on YouTube's servers. Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you have to be patient. If you want to keep to a schedule, but's probably better to allow a few days, you can schedule a video to upload later in the day or later in the week to allow for processing.

 

[Naheed]

Normally, the video quality remains the format you upload but can be changed by the video quality settings on the viewer's end.
YouTube does not decrease the quality of your video but if a person has a bad network connection then youtube automatically reduces the altered quality of that video only for that particular person.

 

[SILTHW]

Normally, the video quality remains the format you upload but can be changed by the video quality settings on the viewer's end.
YouTube does not decrease the quality of your video but if a person has a bad network connection then youtube automatically reduces the altered quality of that video only for that particular person.

I want to make sure that we are accurate here. As long as the uploaded video is at least 1080p, YouTube produces a SD version of the video that can be streamed at multiple SD resolutions - 240p/360/480p. The best resolution is usually automatically chosen but can be a manual choice. They also produce an HD version of the video that can be streamed at multiple HD resolutions - 720p/1080p/1440p/2160p with the maximum resolution being equal to the resolution of the uploaded video. They also will try and pick the best resolution for you, but you can override that choice manually.

The problem many people are seeing right now is that the SD version is getting transcoded fast. So people rush to watch their video when they get the notice it is ready and don't realize they are watching the SD version at 480p when they uploaded at 1080p. The think the transcoding messed up the video quality.

Unfortunately, YouTube has had delays in transcoding the HD version so some people have only had the SD version available for a period of time. People have complained of it taking as long as 24 hours.

Creators find it frustrating because the version people are seeing during that 24 hour period is lower quality than their upload.

 

[Naheed]

I want to make sure that we are accurate here. As long as the uploaded video is at least 1080p, YouTube produces a SD version of the video that can be streamed at multiple SD resolutions - 240p/360/480p. The best resolution is usually automatically chosen but can be a manual choice. They also produce an HD version of the video that can be streamed at multiple HD resolutions - 720p/1080p/1440p/2160p with the maximum resolution being equal to the resolution of the uploaded video. They also will try and pick the best resolution for you, but you can override that choice manually.

The problem many people are seeing right now is that the SD version is getting transcoded fast. So people rush to watch their video when they get the notice it is ready and don't realize they are watching the SD version at 480p when they uploaded at 1080p. The think the transcoding messed up the video quality.

Unfortunately, YouTube has had delays in transcoding the HD version so some people have only had the SD version available for a period of time. People have complained of it taking as long as 24 hours.

Creators find it frustrating because the version people are seeing during that 24 hour period is lower quality than their upload.

Thanks a lot for such a detailed post with great information.
Whats the reason of the delays in transcoding the HD version ?

 

[SILTHW]

Thanks a lot for such a detailed post with great information.
Whats the reason of the delays in transcoding the HD version ?

YouTube hasn't specifically said, but my guess is volume. Just the quantity of videos that need to be transcoded.

 

[Bulltahr]

I thought the clips saved on your phone in the Gopro app, were just lower res proxies, you should check your app settings and see if you can capture to your phone at full res.

 

[Naheed]

YouTube hasn't specifically said, but my guess is volume. Just the quantity of videos that need to be transcoded.

Thanks for your reply.
Yes, you are right as I was also of the same view.