YOUTUBE AND FLV
The higher the TOTAL bitrate (audio and video
summed), the higher the compression rate YouTube employs to prepare your
video for its site. YouTube's compression/conversion to flv often
results in poor video quality and 64-bit (mono) audio.
If you
want to maintain stereo audio in your uploads, you need to upload your
videos in the flv format and keep the total bitrate under 350. A rate
that low "tricks" YouTube into thinking it does not need to convert,
leaving your video with the exact quality settings you achieved before
you uploaded it.
The first thing YouTube does when your video
arrives is check its format. If it is in any format other than flv,
the conversion process automatically begins without any regard for
other factors, such as size (keep it under 27 MBs), aspect ratio, and total bitrate.
Uploading in the flv format is the first way to avoid triggering the YouTube conversion process.
If your video is already in the flv format, the next thing it checks is the total bitrate
of the video. If it's more than 350, you've gone beyond YouTube's
stringent parameters. [Note: Some have reported bitrates as high as
588 before triggering a YouTube conversion, while others saw their
videos get converted with a bitrate as low as 192.]
This is a tool you can use to determine a video's total bitrate: MediaInfo
If your video passes the bitrate test, the next thing YouTube checks is the aspect ratio
of the frame. It must be a multiple of 4:3 (standard TV). It
does not matter if your video is 320X240 or 640X480; because these are
ratios of 4:3, YouTube will not flag the upload for conversion. [Note: The frame rate
of your video does not seem to be a trigger for reconversion. However,
when YouTube reconverts your video, the frame rate is always changed to
15 fps (frames per second).]
Keeping it simple, encoding your video in the flv format is just
another method of compression. You can achieve nice quality results
using flv while maintaining a surprisingly small file size, which
reduces the time it takes to upload.
Not all flv converters are
alike. While some claim to convert to flv from all other formats (AVI,
MP4, WMV, etc.), it seems their development teams focused on one format
over another. I appreciate it when someone points me in the direction
of a program they've had some success with, so I'm going to suggest a
converter called Any Video Converter.
It is free. Most importantly, it allows you to set all the parameters
for your conversion and it gives high quality results with few
noticeable video artifacts (square blocks blinking all over the screen).
[Note: Studio 12 now includes the option to encode your video directly to the flv format.]
[Note:
For videos intended to be viewed on a computer screen (rather than a
television screen), always select to encode your video using the Progressive mode or apply a de-interlacing filter. In Any Video Converter, you can select to use a de-interlacing filter from the Options menu at the top of the screen.]
PARAMETERS
Video Options:
- Video Codec: FLV (option is grayed out)
- Video Size: 320X240 or 640X480 (This will effect the size of the output file -- keep it under 27 MBs).
- Video Bitrate: 192
- Video Framerate: 25 or 30 (29.97)
Audio Options:
- Audio Codec: MP3
- Audio Bitrate: 128
- Sample Rate: 44100 (or less)
- Audio Channel: 2 (option is grayed out)
- Disable Audio: No
- A/V Sync: Basic
- Audio Track: Default (option is grayed out)
I have to admit, it can be a rather hit or miss operation; some have reported that
their videos played in stereo for only 10 minutes but then reverted to mono. And yet some have reported great success.
Now,
if after doing all that, YouTube goes ahead and takes your stereo
effect away, there is still a way to get the upload to play in stereo,
but you must use the parameters outlined above in order to get this
little trick to work.
You can tell YouTube to play a video in High Quality, as opposed to in its standard borderline quality. You do that by adding &fmt=18
to the end of the url and hitting enter to reload the page with the
add-on. Oddly enough, YouTube allows its users to select the option to
watch videos in HQ (via your account options menu), but it does not
provide a means to allow viewers to select HQ when accessing videos.
To
give viewers a chance to watch my videos in stereo and HQ video
(YouTube converts the flv file into a MP4 for HQ), I provide a link in
the video's description box with the &fmt=18 added to the original url. See here for an example.
At
any rate, I realize this is a long message, folks, and I apologize to
all in advance if I have broken any unspoken length rules.
Take care,
Emmett