1.8GB music video file became 6GB after export : How to optimize file size for Youtube

JayBan

Newbie Joined: Apr 14, 2023 11:49 Messages: 6 Offline

Solved by

Apr 14, 2023 12:30

Hi Experts,

I am new to video editing and a new customer of PowerDirector 365 21. My original music video file was 1.8GB (too large already probably, but that is what I received) which after a bit of editing+sound volume gain+titles+small 3D particle video, when exported with default settings, is resulting in a 6GB MP4 video output file unsuitable for uploading to youtube. I am a budding youtuber and would like to master the best way to produce a good youtube video. I read in this forum that bitrate decides the size and quality of output. How do I control that ? I do see that in the Export dialog box, instead of the default settings if I choose Windows Media Video 9 720x480/30p (3 Mbps), the file size drops to 1.2GB as is shown in the lower right hand panel on the export dialog box, but is this the optimum setting to choose for youtube videos ? Also, what is meant by 30p here, where is the bitrate defined ? A detailed explanation would greatly help for which I shall remain very grateful ...Thanks in advance for all your help !

P.S. : I am also finding that even when my edit screen in PD shows that the aspect ratio is set to 16:9 for youtube, the output WMV file created by using Windows Media Video 9 720x480/30p (3 Mbps) has changed the aspect ratio, and now the video appears stretched vertically....What am I missiing folks ?


Filename	Export Settings.png	Download
Description
Filesize	149 Kbytes
Downloaded:	12 time(s)

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Apr 14. 2023 13:18

tomasc

Senior Contributor Joined: Aug 25, 2011 12:33 Messages: 6464 Offline

Apr 14, 2023 13:17

Your screenshot does not show YouTube recommended settings. Here they are: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/1722171?hl=en#zippy=%2Cbitrate . You may also want to use the Profile Analyzer located on top of your highlighted Windows Media button in the screenshot to see the recommendation in PD365 based on your source files resolution and bit rates.

JayBan

Newbie Joined: Apr 14, 2023 11:49 Messages: 6 Offline

Apr 14, 2023 13:27

Quote Your screenshot does not show YouTube recommended settings. Here they are: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/1722171?hl=en#zippy=%2Cbitrate . You may also want to use the Profile Analyzer located on top of your highlighted Windows Media button in the screenshot to see the recommendation in PD365 based on your source files resolution and bit rates.

Thanks for your prompt help tomasc !

Looked at the suggested page for recommended youtube upload settings that you kindly shared. I used the profile analyzer and it comes up with a custom profile with a projected output file size of 5,8GB (see attached screenshot). What settings do you propose I use for export ?


Filename	Export Settings-Profile Analyzer Result.png	Download
Description
Filesize	179 Kbytes
Downloaded:	14 time(s)

tomasc

Senior Contributor Joined: Aug 25, 2011 12:33 Messages: 6464 Offline

Apr 14, 2023 13:57

You claimed that your original source files were only 1.2 GB in size. The Program Analyzer states that 99% of the video assets on that timeline is AVC mpeg 4, 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution, frame rate of 30 fps, and a bitrate of 16.2 Mbps.

Try this: Go back to the Edit page. Highlight the original music clip. Right mouse click on it and then click View Properties. A Popup window allows you to see the total length of that video clip, resolution, bitrate. and frame rate in fps. The audio information and bitrate is also given. How does this information compare to that of the Program Analyzer? It should be basically the same.

You can lower the bitrate of the Encoding to about half for the YOUTUBE recommended bitrate if you want. You can even lower the resolution and bitrate to the YT chart to save more on file sizes if you want for reduced resolution and reduced quality.

JayBan

Newbie Joined: Apr 14, 2023 11:49 Messages: 6 Offline

Apr 17, 2023 18:06

Hi tomasc,

Thank you VERY MUCH for helping this novice ! I realized that I was doing this wrong. Now I have been able to save a 1080p video output and uploaded it to youtube at : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5Qngf0Ctq4

Of my many regrets, my thumbnail needs to be higher resolution as it plays crisp on my laptop but not on my large screen TV, but that later as I start on this exciting journey !

Sorry for a bit of a late response...

Thanks again,
Jay

tomasc

Senior Contributor Joined: Aug 25, 2011 12:33 Messages: 6464 Offline

Apr 17, 2023 20:43

The answers given in this forum are based on the information given about the source files. The source files information given here is not the original recordings. They are SD 4:3 AR poorly digitized from analog tapes. The vcr needs to be set to the edit mode to not output those white halos around people and objects. 640 x 480 resolution will do on those recordings. 1080p is overkill.

JayBan

Newbie Joined: Apr 14, 2023 11:49 Messages: 6 Offline

Apr 18, 2023 17:36

Hi tomasc,

You are absolutely right. I received this recording of my performance from the organizers in 2001, many years back and it was digitized recently by me so to start with the recording quality / sound quality is very bad. The reason I opted for 1080p is to possibly get some benefits on audio quality as the audio quality on lower quality sounded even worse, but again I could be wrong as my knowledge on audio and video massaging is very low at this point...So any suggestion you may have to improve the audio / overall quality is very welcome !

I also noticed that youtube in the 'auto mode' brings the quality down to 720p anyway.

I tried some audio editing options to reduce wind noise, or use the equalizer in the 'classical' mode, etc, but that brought down the quality of the sound even more, so I just opted to increase the volume of the sound to 6.0 in the timeline itself by dragging the volume horizontal level in the timeline, and just left it that way...just so you know...

Your help is much appreciated !
Jay

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Apr 18. 2023 18:00