Superior Image Quality: The Power of YouTube’s AV1 Settings

Do you notice that many YouTube videos have been streamed in AV1? YouTube AV1 just happened suddenly a few years ago. This article will inform you about all the things you want to know about AV1 Youtube settings. I will let you know the tutorial to turn in AV1 settings on YouTube and the reason why should choose AV1 along with the others, and some more things about AV1.

Part 1: How to turn on AV1 settings on YouTube?

Do you wonder how to turn on AV1 settings on YouTube? For your information, AV1 is a video codec that is developed by a consortium of companies. It offers you advanced compression, enabling you to do smoother HD streaming and data savings for the video. Google also has already implemented AV1 use on YouTube. To turn on AV1 settings on YouTube, here are the steps:

Step1Go to playback and performance

To turn on the AV1 settings, go to your YouTube account, after that click “Playback and Performance”.
In the AV1 settings. Besides “Auto (Recommended)”, there are other two options, which are “Prefer AV1 for SD” and also “Always prefer SD”.
“Always Prefer AV1” uses the codec whenever it is available for a video while “Prefer AV1 for SD” limits it to SD videos. There are two options to avoid low-performance devices when AV1 videos are played on YouTube. You can select “Always Prefer AV1” to see if your device performance is good enough when you play videos on YouTube that support AV1.

Step2Test if the AV1 settings are already enabled in your video

You may ask how to confirm your YouTube videos are playing with AV1 Codec. Well, you can search playlist on YouTube with the keywords “4K, 5K, and 8K videos with the new AV1 Codec “. You can test it by playing one of the videos. You have to right-click on the media player and then select “Stats for nerd”. If it shows the av01 codec there, then the AV1 settings are enabled already.

Part 2: Why choose AV1 over VP9 and other formats?

Now, do you need a reason why you should choose AV1 compared to VP9 and the others? As you know, there is also another video codec like VP9. There are also the others such as VVC, and many more. So what is the superiority of AV1 over the others? I will let you know why you should choose AV1 in this part.

The main thing is, as mentioned before, AV1 is developed by a consortium of companies founded in 2015. It is supported by The Alliance for Open Media (AOMedia) such as Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Netflix, and also by web browser developers and semiconductor firms. Aomedia made it clear the algorithm is free-to-use. It means that there are no greedy negotiators that will be dependent on the developers.

Also, these days, with a format that provides a much smaller workload for internet providers. Their today focus is, that AV1 can reach the quality but can get the job done with 20% more efficiency. Then, with AV1 encoding, a “standard” 4K movie will be much more accessible than it is now. These are some more reasons why you should choose AV1.

1. Royalty-free

As mentioned before, AV1 is royalty-free. AV1 is such a next-generation of royalty video codec. It means that it is not just free to use, but also free of charge, obligations, or even liability. It is an open and royalty-free video codec that the video platform will not charge to pay royalties to the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG), the developer of video codecs.

When it comes to the group that will ask for the royalty, MPEG is not the only one. There are also other patent groups and companies that can ask for it. Aomedia integrated Google, Mozilla, and Cisco, while they were busy creating their new video codec. However, the three companies joined together to create one codec to beat them all.

2. Better performance

It is said that the AV1 codec is 30% more efficient. According to the tests conducted by Moscow State University, AV1 can outperform AV1 by about 28% in the efficiency of encoding and decoding. As per the performance graph from the Graphics & Media Lab Video Group, MSU below, AV1 can offer the exactly same quality as X264 at 55% of the average bitrate.

AV1 is designed so exclusively to function better than all the other codecs in the market. It is an open-sourced codec with simple patent licensing, and the integration manages to save, as mentioned, up to 30% of the bandwidth for the exactly same image quality. In other words, with AV1, distributors can send streams much faster and cheaper and we can enjoy higher definitions in the same bandwidth.

3. AV2 to come in the future

AV1 is undoubtedly superior if we compare it to other available video codecs and the exploration of the codec technology AV2 has already begun. This is such an early performance evaluation. There is some interesting part of the exploration development of AV2, such as multiple line selection for Intra prediction can make you select not just neighboring row/column for directional prediction. The same tool also exists in VVC.

There are also three essential improvements, which are simplifying the existing feature (also complete removal) and picking the tool used by VVC/H.266 (It is lack originality but so much work on it) and improvement periodically improvement of an existing tool, it is too few and also not original. We haven’t known yet when AV2 will be done completely though, maybe there still be some more essential improvements.

Part 3: What’s the best video editor for YouTubers with AV1 format?

When we talk about YouTube, it feels incomplete if we don’t talk about the video editor. So, what is the best video editing software for YouTubers with AV1 format? Yes, it is Filmora . It is such a great video editing software that allows you to import and edit many video file formats. Filmora also allows users to export AV1 MP4 format video and then can directly upload it to YouTube.

Filmora gives some ways to export your videos. Here are the five ways. You can also customize the export settings then you can save them to reuse the same settings next time. The first is you can export your project file and video to the local computer. It supports export as MP4, AVI, WMV, AV1, MOV, GoPro Cineform, F4V, MKV, TS, and 3GP.

After that, you can export your video to any device you want, such as iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Apple TV 4K, iPod, Samsung Galaxy, Smart Phone, Android Generic, Google Pixel, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PSP, and Smart TV. Then you can upload it to YouTube, Filmora provides you to export your video to Youtube directly. All you need to do is logging your Youtube account and export.

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Part 4: FAQ: Does YouTube use AV1 or VP9?

For today, YouTube encodes all the videos with the VP9 codec, but for some reason displays for low view count videos. AV1 usage also had been pushed to very low view counts. When it comes to cost or quality tradeoffs, AV1 took about 18 times longer to encode than x264.

Free Download For macOS 10.14 or later

Part 4: FAQ: Does YouTube use AV1 or VP9?

The Ultimate Step-by-Step Guide to Uploading Videos on YouTube

How To Upload Videos to YouTube [a Step-by-Step Guide]

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Want to learn how to upload videos to YouTube? Millions of people watch YouTube every day. Creating and posting YouTube videos can be a lot of fun, and if you get a lot of views and become popular you can also make money. YouTube videos are a creative way to connect with people all around the world.

These simple steps can assist you in learning how to upload YouTube videos from a desktop computer. You are going to Learn:

Part 1: Basic Rules You Need to Know Before Uploading
Part 2: Steps to Upload Videos to YouTube

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As a YouTuber, it is necessary to have an easy-to-use video editor, especially for beginners. Download Filmora for free and start your editing journey happily.

Part 1: Basic Rules You Need to Know Before Uploading

Clicking the ‘upload’ button is easy, but during the upload process, there are things you can do to help your video get views and maintain its quality. You should also keep an eye on the length and file size limits. The more basic things you need to consider carefully when you upload are the title, description, and tags of your video. These are part of what determines if and where your video comes up in people’s search results. There are also slightly more advanced video specs, like your video’s resolution, which will be helpful for you to understand as somebody who will be producing video content frequently. These sorts of specs will affect how long it takes your videos to upload and how much of the quality they maintain.

1. How Long Can my Video Be?

By default, your YouTube videos can only be 15 minutes long. You can post longer videos by going to the upload page and clicking on ‘Increase your Limit’ at the bottom. After you have followed the steps to verify your account you will be able to post videos that are a maximum of 11 hours long.

2. How Big a File Can I Upload?

Your file size was capped at 20GB, initially. If you follow the same steps for posting videos longer than 15 minutes then you can also increase your maximum file size to 128GB.

3. Other Basics

After you click the ‘upload’ button on YouTube you are taken to a page where you choose a category for your video and add a title, description, and tags. These are all important for getting hits so you should put some thought into them.

Title: Keep your title under 70 characters so none of it disappears into a ‘…’. The best titles make people curious or elicit an emotional response. Terms like ‘video’, ‘how-to’, and ‘tutorial’ are often typed into people’s searches so if they apply to your video it can help to put them in the title.

Description: A short synopsis of your video which includes your most important keyword. You have about three lines before your text is hidden by a ‘show more’ tab. If you are including the URL of your channel or other videos then you should make sure they are above the ‘show more’.

Tags: Use a lot of them. These are the keywords and terms people will be searching for when they find your video. YouTube will suggest some after you start adding. A quick way to find good keywords to use is to search for videos similar to yours and check out their tags. A while ago YouTube started hiding video tags by default but you can download a free, YouTube-certified, extension for Google Chrome which will allow you to see them from vidIQ.com.

4. Digging Deeper

To get your viewers to subscribe to your channel you will need to make sure your videos are not losing quality when you upload them. Here are some things to be aware of if you want your videos to look great on YouTube.

Resolution: the number of pixels in your image. For example when a video has a resolution of 1080p that means it has a grid of pixels that is 1920 x 1080. The more pixels you have the sharper your image.

Bitrate: Bitrate is a measurement of how compressed your file is, and the less compressed it is the more information there is per frame. Higher bitrates mean larger file sizes.

Your resolution and bitrate should complement each other. If you have a higher bitrate than is needed for your video’s resolution your file will be unnecessarily large. If your bitrate is too low for your resolution then you will not see the quality you expect.

YouTube has a list of recommended resolutions and bitrates at support.google.com/youtube/answer/1722171.

Aspect Ratio: the dimensions of your video, in terms of width and height. YouTube’s aspect ratio is 16:9, so your videos should also be 16:9. If they are not then you will get black bars on either side of your video after you upload it. The most common way that people end up with the wrong aspect ratio is by creating videos on their smartphones and holding them up and down instead of sideways.

Part 2: Steps to Upload Videos to YouTube

Uploading YouTube Video on Desktop:

1. Sign in to your YouTube account

2. Hit the upload button

3. Select your video type (Public, Private, Unlisted)

4. Manage the upload

5. Choose your thumbnail

In order to upload videos to YouTube, the very first thing you need to do is sign in. The sign-in button is located at the top right corner of the YouTube homepage. If you have multiple accounts registered to one device, you will be asked to choose one to log in to.

Step 2: Hit the upload button

It is a simple step that you will have to follow right after you log in to YouTube. As soon as you enter YouTube, after using your Google account and password for login, you will find the upload button in the top right corner of the screen. Click on this button and it will take you to the dedicated upload page.

Step 3: Select your video type (Public, Private, Unlisted)

Choose your audience. If you wish to make your video available to everyone on YouTube, simply go to the privacy settings and choose the “Public” option from the drop-down menu.

If you do not want your video to be searchable, but still want to be able to easily share a link to it with your friends and family, choose the “Unlisted” option.

Those who wish to keep their video personal can choose the “Private” option from the drop-down menu. You can still share a private video with a limited number of people (as long as they have Google accounts).

The “Scheduled” option is available for choosing a future date and time to make the video available to viewers. Once you have selected your privacy level, simply upload your video from your device storage.

Step 4: Manage the upload

As soon as you have confirmed your video upload, you will find a progress bar on the screen. It will take some time depending on factors such as the resolution of the video and how long it is. In the meanwhile, you can write a title, description and add relevant tags for your video so that YouTube knows what search results to include it in and viewers can find it. Remember that YouTube is the second biggest search engine on the Internet, so take some time to optimize your keywords .

Step 5: Choose your thumbnail

Once your video uploading is complete, it is time to choose a creative thumbnail for your video. The system provides you with three options to choose from automatically, all of which will be screenshots from your video. It is usually better toupload your own custom thumbnail , as thumbnails are a very important factor in attracting viewers. Hit the “Done” button or use the “Publish” button to finalize your upload.

That’s how to upload a video on YouTube! Any questions?

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

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