Custom Format for YouTube High Quality

Is it possible to produce a video that YouTube will publish in its new, high-quality mode? Yes!

This article focuses on Windows software, but there is an excellent discussion of the best parameters to use with Mac software here: YouTube Encoding: Locked & Reloaded

Below is a movie I created with Windows Movie Maker, from the sample videos Microsft supplies with Vista. Following that is a similar movie, created with the same settings with VideoSpin. The key is to use a custom output profile, created with Windows Media Profile Editor, which I'll explain here. The great news is that you can use this same profile with the VideoSpin editor.

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Produced with Windows Movie Maker

 

Produced with Pinnacle VideoSpin

 

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Background

In the latter part of 2008 (don't make me look it up), YouTube introduced some new features for uploaded videos. To wit:

• the filesize limit was raised from 100 megabytes to 1 gigabyte
• videos are displayed at 480x360, rather than 320x240
• if your submitted videos have the right characteristics, they will be displayed in a "high quality" mode, which includes the possibility of stereo sound

The problem for submitters is that it's very difficult to find any description of what the "right characteristics" are for your video to be displayed in high quality.

After a good deal of research, I found some parameters that seem to be effective and reliable:

• a resolution of 640x480 (or at least 480x360)
• 30 fps
• H.264 or wmv
• audio: 96 kbps, wma 9.2, 44.1khz, CBR, stereo
• video: 6 mbps, wmv 9

When you select "Publish Movie," in Windows Movie Maker, and you choose to publish on "this computer," you eventually get a dialog that asks you to "Choose the settings for your movie." There is no selection available to you here that provides the right settings for YouTube's high quality mode. So how do you make custom settings, such as the above, available?

 

Windows Movie Profile Editor

The answer is to use a Microsoft utility called the "Windows Movie Profile Editor." This utility is part of the installation of the "Windows Media Encoder 9," which you can obtain at this link. Detailed instructions for using the program are available at this link. I found these instructions to be a bit difficult to fathom, however, so let me go over the high points.

Note: The Windows Media Profile Editor is available for all versions of Windows Vista, but not for Windows XP.

The easiest way to find it is to click the Start button and type "Windows Media Profile Editor" in the search field. After launching, you see a dialog that looks like this:

• The name you fill in will become the name of the setting in Windows Movie Maker
• The description is optional
• Under "Media Types," check both the "audio" and "video" checkboxes, but not the "script" checkbox
  • For audio, select "CBR" and "Windows Media Audio 9.2."
  • For video, select "CBR" and Windows Media Video 9."
• Under target bit rates, click the "add" button. Once you do, you will be asked for a bit rate. Type "6 M" (without the quotes) and press Enter. Then you'll see a new page in the dialog that looks like this:

Fill it in with these values:

• Audio format: 96 kbps, 44 khz, stereo CBR
• Video size: 640x480
• Frame rate: 30 fps
• Key frame interval: 3 sec
• Video bitrate: 6000 K (same as 6 M)
• Buffer size: 5 seconds
• Video smoothness: 100
• Decoder compatibility: auto

The next thing to do is to click the "Save and Close" button, saving the file to a name and temporary location of your choice. The ultimate destination for the file is a place which Vista won't let you save it to, so the idea is to save it to a temporary location, and then copy it to the ultimate destination. It's one of those things I love about Vista (not!) Here, I'm going to copy Microsoft's instructions.

 

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Note: The instructions are the same for VideoSpin, except the profile gets copied to a different location -- i.e., the place where VideoSpin will see it. Assuming you installed VideoSpin to the default location, that location is:

<Drive>:\Program Files\Pinnacle\VideoSpin\WMVProfiles11

where <Drive> is the letter of the hard drive on which Windows Vista is installed.

Once installed, you will see "YouTube High Quality" listed among the "presets" on the "Make Movie" page of VideoSpin.

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To copy the custom setting

To copy the custom setting to the correct Movie Maker folder that appears under Program Files, you need to be logged into Windows as an administrator or as a member of the Administrators group. 1. Click the Start button , and then click Computer to display the file browser. 2. Navigate to the following folder location: <Drive>:\Program Files\Movie Maker\Shared where <Drive> is the letter of the hard drive on which Windows Vista is installed. 3. Click Organize, and then click New Folder. 4. If a Destination Folder Access Denied dialog displays, click Continue. 5. In the User Account Control dialog box, click Continue. 6. Type Profiles for the folder name, and then press ENTER. 7. If another Destination Folder Access Denied dialog box displays, click Continue. 8. In the resulting User Account Control dialog box, click Continue. 9. In Computer, navigate to your Documents folder where you saved the custom setting, click the custom setting file (which has a .prx file name extension), click Organize, and then click Copy. 10. Navigate to the following folder: <Drive>:\Program Files\Movie Maker\Shared\Profiles. 11. Click Organize, and then click Paste. 12. If another Destination Folder Access Denied dialog box displays, click Continue. 13. In the User Account Control dialog box, click Continue.

To publish a movie in Windows Movie Maker by using a custom setting

1. In Windows Movie Maker, import the video and other content that you want to include in your movie, and then add it to the storyboard/timeline. 2. Click File, click Publish Movie. 3. Click This computer, and then click Next. 4. In the File name box, type a file name. 5. In the Publish to box, choose where you want to save your movie once it's published, and then click Next. 6. Click More settings, click the custom setting that you created, and then click Publish. If the custom setting does not appear in the More settings box, try creating the setting again by using different settings and by following the tips above for creating valid custom settings for use in Windows Movie Maker. Although the setting you created may be valid, the specific settings might not be supported in Windows Movie Maker.

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