Filmora Best Export Settings - for YouTube

After your Filmora video project is ready, you need the best export settings.

If you want to upload video directly to YouTube, click on the arrow on Export button and login to your YouTube account.

→ Watch Video Tutorial Below.

However, to save video on your computer, click on the Export button and select Local tab.

Select the video format. MP4 is the best and most widely supported format.

Enter the name of your video. Include relevant keywords separated by hyphens because when you upload, this file name will be automatically picked by YouTube, and it is important for search performance of your video.

Choose the folder in your computer where the video will be saved. It is better to first create a destination folder in file explorer in your PC then click this folder icon in Filmora, choose that folder and click on Select Folder to link it.

Click Settings next to preset.

For video quality, either choose Recommend or Higher. For most cases Recommend is a better option. Quality only changes the bitrate value.

I will explain the Resolution and Frame Rate at the last part of this section.

Here, you should select H.264 encoder.

Next to Bitrate Mode, please select VBR because according to Adobe, Variable Bitrate provides much higher video quality with lower file size and it is best for YouTube and Vimeo.

For the Bitrate, open Properties of the original video and under Details tab, check the Bitrate. In Filmora export settings, keep the Bitrate approximately similar to as the Bitrate value in original video.

Next comes the Export Color Space settings. If your computer Display or Monitor supports HDR then select HDR in Filmora. Otherwise SDR is the best selection for you.

To check the HDR capability, open these settings in your Windows 10 or Windows 11 computer.

Windows 11: Settings → System → Display → Windows HD Color Settings.

Windows 10: Settings → System → Display → HDR.

Because my computer does not support HDR, therefore, in Filmora export settings, I will choose SDR for best playback display.

Here, I do not prefer to compress video because YouTube automatically compresses the video. So, I will select None to export best quality video.

For Audio encoder AAC is already selected.

For Channel, Stereo is the best setting for most of you. YouTube only supports 5.1 surround sound on Youtube TV, otherwise it will convert the audio to two-channel stereo.

Now let me explain the Resolution and Frame Rate options. You should select the same values in Filmora export settings as in your original video. To see the values in the original video, open File Explorer, right-click on the original video, select Properties, then select Details tab.

There you can see that Frame Width and Frame Height values of the original video maybe 1920 and 1080 (or different for your video such as 1600x900) respectively. These are in fact the Resolution values. In file explorer, you can also note the Frame Rate of the original video. So, open Filmora and enter the same values for Resolution and Frame Rate as in the original video.

I highly recommend that you purchase monitor with 1920x1080 resolution because most users use this screen resolution and it is recommended by YouTube.

Please note that if your original video is created in 1600x900 or 1280x720, or 1920x1080, or 2560x1440, then you should enter the same export value in Filmora because all these resolutions are acceptable to YouTube and have the same aspect ratio of 16:9 or widescreen.

YouTube also recommends that you should create or upload final videos in the same resolution as in your original video. For example, according to YouTube recommendation, if your original or recorded video has 1600x900 resolution, you should not forcefully export it or upload it in 1920x1080 pixel resolution.

Let me quickly share the info that best resolution for Instagram post video is 1080x1080 pixels. However, for Instagram Story video the best resolution is 1080x1920 pixels.

For Facebook Reels, YouTube Shorts and Tiktok the best resolution setting is also 1080x1920 pixels or 9:16 aspect ratio. However, please do not keep important information on top and bottom portions of a vertical video. You may get a best template from Dozro.

I highly recommend that you save your Settings as a preset so that you can quickly choose your setting for your next export.

I do not prefer Upload to Cloud and Auto Highlight options.

For faster rendering and export, I will tick the checkbox on lower left corner to enable GPU.

Now I will click Export button.

Then click Open Folder option to quickly access the saved video in File Explorer.

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