Mar 19, 2011 0
The best video export options
How do you choose the best settings for exporting your video, after you have edited it?
I remember how confusing this was for me when I started working with Web video several years ago. With the slower computers we had back then, I would wait for what seemed like forever while exporting a small 2-minute video — only to have it come out looking horrible. Then I would change the export settings, using whatever information I had to base decisions on, and then go through the process again.
I kept thinking someone, somewhere must have the list of instructions for how to export my video properly! Why couldn’t I find that list?
I couldn’t find it because it doesn’t exist, and here’s why:
- Every video editing program has a different constellation of options for exporting.
- The options change, at least slightly, every time a new version of the software comes out. This is at least partly because improvements are being made in digital video technology almost continuously.
- The character of the video itself can require different settings for best results.
- There are so many different possibilities for your output — will it be playing on an iPhone or on a large HD screen?
The good news
To save yourself a lot of time, start by looking at where the final video is going to appear. If it’s going to be on YouTube, then start by reading about their supported file formats. YouTube has a list of helpful articles about editing videos.
If it’s going to be on Vimeo, read their guide on compression. This is actually a list of common things you will see in your video editing software when you go to export your edited video. They also list their supported file formats on that page.
In other words, work backward from the end result you are aiming for. Choosing the file format cuts out many of the myriad options offered by most video editing programs.
If you’re working for a company that frequently puts videos on its website, you can bet there is already a “recipe” for how to export. If no one has experimented, determined the best practices, and written that recipe yet — then maybe that’s YOUR job! Seriously, if you’re part of a media organization and no one has codified the preferred workflow and export settings for video, then someone needs to step up and get that done.
Highest quality
Do not choose a low-quality option for exporting your video. In some programs you might have an option such as “For e-mail” — that would make a small, ugly video, because the emphasis is on making the file size small enough to be practical for sending as an e-mail attachment (which no one should ever do with video anyway!).
In Windows Movie Maker, there is a setting “For Web,” which you might think is a good choice for Web video. Wrong! Again, you are choosing an unreasonably bad quality. In that case the highest quality is “For computer.” (Windows is just weird.)
On the other hand, “For DVD” in any program is likely to do all kinds of things you DO NOT want for the Web.
Once you have exported a high-quality video file, it is possible to convert it to other formats and lesser quality without going through the whole export process again. If you have a low-quality file, however, it is not possible to improve it — UNLESS you go back and export all over again.
General terms and things to look for
File format: I mentioned this already. Every computer file has a format, and that format is represented by a file extension, such as .docx for Microsoft Word documents and .jpg for most photographs. There are lots of different video file formats, but some of these are far more common than others. MP4 (.mp4) and WMV (.wmv) are two you might be familiar with. What about .ogv or .webm? Not so common today, but it’s likely they will be, as HTML5 gains ground. You need to figure out which format will be suitable for the video you want to export.
Codec: This word is short for coder/decoder, and in many video editing programs, this is what you need to select before you get a choice of file formats. So, choose H.264 for MP4, for example. If your software does not offer you a choice of codecs (like Windows Live Movie Maker), it is probably because there is only one, so you don’t get to choose.
Frame rate: Digital video usually has a frame rate (number of frames per second) of 30 or close to 30 (29.97). Film has a frame rate of 24 frames per second. Generally you’re going to shoot at 30 fps and export for 30 fps.
Audio: If you get to choose audio settings, keep in mind that “CD quality” is 44.1 kHz and 128 kbps. Anything lower starts to sound bad. If you can choose mono instead of stereo, you could consider that the file size will be significantly smaller if you select mono.
Data rate: This is a big consideration for quality for streaming video. Lower numbers mean lower quality. Higher numbers, while they do provide higher quality images and motion, also increase the file size. If you’ve ever watched an online video that stopped and started repeatedly, that video probably had a high data rate. I start with a data rate of 1000 kbps for a video that does not have a lot of action and motion in it. If the quality of the exported file seems poor, then I try again with 2000.
Deinterlacing: Always choose this for online videos. Otherwise, the image can be messed up.
Aspect ratio: An easy way to think about this: Is your video frame almost square, like an old-style TV? That’s 4:3. Is your video frame long and wide from side to side? That’s 16:9. These are the two most common aspect ratios.
Resolution: This is measured in pixels — and for Web video, keep in mind that many people do not have gigantic computer screens. A standard (4:3) video is typically 640 x 480 (width x height), and a widescreen (16:9) video is often 853 x 480. HD video (also 16:9) is 1280 x 720 — half-size (still 16:9) would be 640 x 360.
Keyframes: I usually choose “Automatic” if the video editing software gives me an option. You may choose to have a keyframe added for every x frames, but I don’t know the criteria for choosing the number. I do know that a higher number will increase the file size!
Final tips
If you have exported a video and you like the results, go back immediately and write down all the settings you used. There’s no way you will remember them next time!
If you’re using the same settings you always use, but this time the video came out poorly (especially if it is indistinct, or smeared in appearance), maybe this video has a lot more changes at a faster pace. It does not have to be motion; it may be just a lot of fast cutting among very different scenes. Try increasing the data rate and/or adding keyframes — for example, keyframes every 30 frames.
