Sharing video on Youtube or Facebook

[Kenny B]

I've been working on some video projects lately, wanting to post some clips on Youtube or Facebook. I'm using iMovie to edit my video content from recordings off my iPad and then exporting from iMovie to Youtube or Facebook.

Q: So I was wondering what it the best export settings from iMovie to distribute content to either place? I think both Youtube and Facebook tend to crush the audio. Maybe there is a better way to go about this?

[keith.rogers]

I export to a file and then upload. They're going to have their way with it, regardless.

If I upload a 1080p/60 video to YT that's over 300MB (maybe 400), then after it's done processing, there's a download option. Last one I did gave me a back a 60MB 720p file. So, yeah, a little bit of crushing going on.

I'm not convinced that using iMovie's option (i.e., share direct to YT/FB) saves you their "processing" so figure it's better to start with what you think is a good/best render you can, and then you have that to compare to.

[Brent Hahn]

Just make your best mix and export your iMovie video as File. Things change from time to time, but audio-wise, currently Youtube will give you pretty back pretty much what you put in, while Facebook (if you upload directly to FB), will make it brighter, louder, more compressed, and quite possibly out of sync. So I'd go to Youtube only, and link to YT on your FB page. All you have to do is include the url in your FB post, and FB will automatically put it in a neat little box with the YT thumbnail in it.

And speaking of thumbnails, FB will shave off the top and bottom of it, so when you create your YT thumbnail image (which you DO want to), take the FB cropping into account.

[KevWind]

If I am not mistaken I believe currently Youtube streams at 128 bit ACC for the audio for streaming

SO:
As Brent said, best bet is to make the highest quality audio file you can ( presumably a 24 bit 48hz sample rate WAV file) to import into you video editor program. And the upload to Youtube@ at least 720 if not 1080

Now I know Youtube offers a Premium Subscription plan which lets you personally stream at 256 ACC to listen to.... BUT how that relates to what others who may be non subscribers will hear, I don't know but suspect it will still be 128 bit ACC

[jim1960]

Originally Posted by Kenny B

I think both Youtube and Facebook tend to crush the audio. Maybe there is a better way to go about this?

The only way i know to avoid a big crush is to master the music to the levels each site wants. The problem is those levels aren't written in stone and each site has it's own target level, so a single master isn't going to cover all sites and what may be perfect on a particular site today, may get adjusted tomorrow if they decide to change their target number.

There are many schools of thought on this but I think the most accepted solution is that for music going up on social media sites, master to about -14 LUFS and let each site do what they're going to do.

If you want to get a sense of what some of the sites will do to your file, you can test it on this site and it will tell you:
Loudness Penalty Analyzer

[keith.rogers]

YouTube has a standard, presumably -14dB LUFS for loudness, but I think they don't do a lot of up-leveling, though I tend to stick to the -14 to -15 range. I assume they will limit if you exceed -14, but I've not tested that.

I've attached a couple screenshots of the video file properties and show the sizes of the original of a file and the YT download. The interesting thing, besides the stunning crunch of file size (my videos, unfortunately or fortunately, do not suffer greatly from this ), is that they resampled the audio from 48kHz to 44.1kHz. YT did not change the integrated LUFS.

(I was wrong about this being 1080p/60!)

[Brent Hahn]

Originally Posted by jim1960

The only way i know to avoid a big crush is to master the music to the levels each site wants.

The "crush" part depends on how the level reduction is done. Based on what my ears tell me, all the outlets listed on loudnesspenalty.com simply normalize to the level they want based on the highest peak in your file. No crushing.

Upload a loud file to Facebook, on the other hand, and you'll hear something that sounds more like, well, a compressor compressing. Seems like they've made it less subtle just lately.

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by keith.rogers

YouTube has a standard, presumably -14dB LUFS for loudness, but I think they don't do a lot of up-leveling, though I tend to stick to the -14 to -15 range. I assume they will limit if you exceed -14, but I've not tested that.

I've attached a couple screenshots of the video file properties and show the sizes of the original of a file and the YT download. The interesting thing, besides the stunning crunch of file size (my videos, unfortunately or fortunately, do not suffer greatly from this ), is that they resampled the audio from 48kHz to 44.1kHz. YT did not change the integrated LUFS.

(I was wrong about this being 1080p/60!)

Keith, how are you downloading the YT file? I haven't found a way to do this where I'm convinced that what I'm getting isn't modified by the downloader itself - not saying it does, I just don't know how to verify that. It also seems hard to know if the file really matches what you tube actually streams, especially in any given situation. Seems like the ideal would be something that actually measures the stream rather than a downloaded copy. Do you have some tool that clarifies this?

[keith.rogers]

Originally Posted by Doug Young

Keith, how are you downloading the YT file? I haven't found a way to do this where I'm convinced that what I'm getting isn't modified by the downloader itself - not saying it does, I just don't know how to verify that. It also seems hard to know if the file really matches what you tube actually streams, especially in any given situation. Seems like the ideal would be something that actually measures the stream rather than a downloaded copy. Do you have some tool that clarifies this?

I just download from YouTube Studio (Channel Videos, video->Options/"..." menu).

I don't know that this file is the same thing that is streamed, but I assumed it was - at least at the resolution in the file. They may (likely?) have more than one version cached for different playback resolutions, but they also probably have enough computer power to downres some things on the fly.

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by keith.rogers

I just download from YouTube Studio (Channel Videos, video->Options/"..." menu).

I don't know that this file is the same thing that is streamed, but I assumed it was - at least at the resolution in the file. They may (likely?) have more than one version cached for different playback resolutions, but they also probably have enough computer power to downres some things on the fly.

OK, I'm suspicious of that process. For example, my recent videos are 4K, and seem to stream at 4K (at least they look better than at lower settings), but that link gives me just a 720p file.

I'm guessing there's some tool that will tell you what's really being streamed, just haven't found one yet.

[keith.rogers]

Originally Posted by Doug Young

OK, I'm suspicious of that process. For example, my recent videos are 4K, and seem to stream at 4K (at least they look better than at lower settings), but that link gives me just a 720p file.

I'm guessing there's some tool that will tell you what's really being streamed, just haven't found one yet.

Yes, I think they have higher resolutions and you don't get those, but even a video I uploaded at 720p is going to have a pretty good hit, maybe not 1/5th the size but probably somewhere around 1/3 the size. I can't imagine that they'd go to the trouble of having two ways to produce a 720p video, whether it's being streamed or downloaded. And, I "heard" that the audio on HD video is "as good as it gets" whether 720 or 1080. (4k I know nothing about since I don't do that - no camera that does it and couldn't afford the storage!)

P.S. I checked a video I uploaded at 720p - upload size was 199.9MB, download size 60.9MB. It shows the same sample rate downres.

[jim1960]

Originally Posted by Brent Hahn

The "crush" part depends on how the level reduction is done. Based on what my ears tell me, all the outlets listed on loudnesspenalty.com simply normalize to the level they want based on the highest peak in your file. No crushing.

Upload a loud file to Facebook, on the other hand, and you'll hear something that sounds more like, well, a compressor compressing. Seems like they've made it less subtle just lately.

I've never sat and A/B-ed files I've uploaded to any site but people do complain about it (but that could be people hearing what they expect to hear rather than what they actually hear). Mastering to -14 LUFS is how a lot of mastering engineers alleviate those concerns. If music isn't going to cd, there's little reason to master at levels much louder than that anyway. Vinyl might be an exception. I've heard people argue on both sides of that issue, some saying you can master as hot as a loud cd, some saying you shouldn't. I've never mastered for vinyl so I have no idea what the right thing is for that.

[Brent Hahn]

Originally Posted by jim1960

I've never sat and A/B-ed files I've uploaded to any site but people do complain about it (but that could be people hearing what they expect to hear rather than what they actually hear).

Here's something I'm pretty familiar with, same exact file uploaded to both Youtube and Facebook.

Youtube:



Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/StevenWagne...57766491147218

To me, the Youtube version sounds very much like the source. And it's in sync. The "featured artiste" prefers the sound of the FB version, and must not care about sync.

[jim1960]

Originally Posted by Brent Hahn

The "featured artiste" prefers the sound of the FB version, and must not care about sync.

The FB version is significantly louder. That will account for preference most of the time.

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by Brent Hahn

To me, the Youtube version sounds very much like the source. And it's in sync. The "featured artiste" prefers the sound of the FB version, and must not care about sync.

I'm not sure where you're seeing sync issues, but the spot I noticed, he appears to be out of sync (strumming seems wrong) in the same spot in both, then it corrects. I assume that's an issue with the source video?

Here's the video I recently posted over in show and tell on facebook. I don't see any sync issues and the sound seems fine (tho neither facebook nor you tube sound as good as the original).

https://www.facebook.com/doug.young....58987648177193

Are you seeing issues I am missing? (BTW, I targeted -14-15 LUFS on both on this)