Best video format? avi, mp4, wmv, etc??

Go with mp4, especially if its h.264

Why? Ive just finished a comprehensive investigation into youtube and i learned the following from looking at what yt does with my videos:

h264 (mp4) is what youtube uses natively. Framerate of 30fps max. Anything higher will be reduced to either 25fps or 30fps.

Im doing a youtube tutorial video about my findings might up it tomorrow.

I read an email from a youtube engineer, he said that in the future yt might change as technology changes, so for now upload the best quality you can squeeze through your internet.
 
Hello, now this is from my own knowledge, so I am sorry if it may be incorrect.

Avi - Not as good Quality, More compatibility, Smaller file size.
Wmv - Better Quality, Less compatibility, Bigger file size.
 
In most decent editors you can set the file type and bitrate (thus influencing the file size). I use MP4 with a 25k bitrate I believe and that gives me 15 minute videos of around 2,5gb each (in 1080p).
 
WMV!!! Takes a bit longer to render but uploading time is a bit less than an hour on a decent connection. About an hr and 30 in an okay connection!
 
.mp4 is just a container. What you are putting into it matters. Use h.264 for you YouTube at the highest bitrate you possibly can. YouTube will neuter it to some extent which is the reason to go with the highest quality you can.

If you want your videos to look good and that's your main priority, this is the best file type for YouTube.

If you just want speed, use whatever is fastest...
 
I use .mp4 and for a 20min video is usually around the 400mb mark, takes on average 1.5hrs to render and 1hr to upload.... mp4 seems to be a good all rounder, not loosing too much quality and not being huge in size
 
MP4 is the best format for uploading video to YouTube. Given below are the parameters of MP4 that YouTube support.

Container: MP4
  • No Edit Lists (or the video might not get processed correctly)
  • moov atom at the front of the file (Fast Start)
Audio codec: AAC-LC
  • Channels: Stereo or Stereo + 5.1
  • Sample rate 96khz or 48khz
Video codec: H.264
  • Progressive scan (no interlacing)
  • High Profile
  • 2 consecutive B frames
  • Closed GOP. GOP of half the frame rate.
  • CABAC
  • Variable bitrate. No bitrate limit required, though we offer recommended bit rates below for reference
  • Chroma subsampling: 4:2:0
Frame rate
  • Content should be encoded and uploaded in the same frame rate it was recorded.
  • Common frame rates include: 24, 25, 30, 48, 50, 60 frames per second (other frame rates are also acceptable).
  • Interlaced content should be deinterlaced before uploading. For example, 1080i60 content should be deinterlaced to 1080p30, going from 60 interlaced fields per second to 30 progressive frames per second.
Bitrate

Note that the bitrates below are recommendations for uploads. Audio playback bitrate is not related to video resolution.

Recommended video bitrates for uploads

Type Video Bitrate, Vid Bitrate, High Frame Rate
Standard Frame Rate (24, 25, 30) (48, 50, 60)

2160p (4k) 35-45 Mbps 53-68 Mbps
1440p (2k) 16 Mbps 24 Mbps
1080p 8 Mbps 12 Mbps
720p 5 Mbps 7.5 Mbps
480p 2.5 Mbps 4 Mbps
360p 1 Mbps 1.5 Mbps

Recommended audio bitrates for uploads

Type Audio Bitrate
Mono 128 kbps
Stereo 384 kbps
5.1 512 kbps

Resolution and aspect ratio

YouTube uses 16:9 aspect ratio players. If you are uploading a non-16:9 file, it will be processed and displayed correctly as well, with pillar boxes (black bars on the left and right) or letter boxes (black bars at the top and bottom) provided by the player. If you want to fit the player perfectly, encode at these resolutions:
  • 2160p: 3840x2160
  • 1440p: 2560x1440
  • 1080p: 1920x1080
  • 720p: 1280x720
  • 480p: 854x480
  • 360p: 640x360
  • 240p: 426x240

The YouTube player automatically adds black bars so that videos are displayed correctly without cropping or stretching, no matter the size of the video or the player.

For example, the player will automatically add pillarboxing to 4:3 videos in the new 16:9 widescreen player size. If the player is re-sized (i.e. when embedded on another website), the same process takes place so that 16:9 videos are letterboxed when the player is sized to 4:3. 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 your source file is not MP4 or does not meet these requirements, you'd better to convert or adjust your source file.
 
MP4 and AVI both upload and view well. I've used both for many years. You won't tell the difference between formats in HD 1080 on YT.

AVI has been known to occasionally stall on upload in the past. MP4 doen't have that issue and is generally a reliable straight forward upload.

So these days I generally use MP4 compressed.
 
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