YouTube upload settings, and why your video sounds quieter
YouTube's recommended bitrates for 1080p, 1440p and 4K, the codec and audio settings it expects, and why quiet videos stay quiet next to loud ones (−14 LUFS).
YouTube recommends an MP4 with H.264 video, AAC-LC audio at 48 kHz, your original frame rate, and about 8 Mbps for 1080p at 30 fps (12 Mbps at 60 fps). Two things matter more than people expect: the bitrate for the resolution you upload, and loudness, because YouTube turns loud videos down but doesn’t turn quiet ones up.
What are YouTube’s recommended upload settings?
YouTube’s published bitrates for SDR uploads:
| Resolution | 24–30 fps | 48–60 fps |
|---|---|---|
| 1080p | 8 Mbps | 12 Mbps |
| 1440p | 16 Mbps | 24 Mbps |
| 2160p (4K) | 35–45 Mbps | 53–68 Mbps |
Plus: MP4 container with the index at the front (“fast start”), H.264 High profile, progressive scan, 4:2:0 colour, the frame rate you recorded, and AAC-LC audio at 48 kHz.
Is it better to upload to YouTube in 1440p?
Often, yes. Small channels notice that their 1080p uploads look softer than big channels’ do. Uploading at 1440p usually gets a better encode, even for people watching in 1080p. It also makes the file bigger and the upload longer, so it’s a choice, not a rule. Becheloon offers it as an option and tells you what it costs in size. If you shot in 4K, how to compress 4K video for YouTube weighs keeping 4K against dropping to 1080p.
Why is my YouTube video quieter than others?
YouTube turns loud videos down to a common level, which creators and audio engineers have measured at roughly −14 LUFS. It doesn’t turn quiet videos up. If your voice-over sits at −23 LUFS, it plays noticeably quieter than the video before it, and viewers reach for the volume or skip.
You can check this on any upload: right-click the player and open Stats for nerds. The “Volume / Normalized” line shows how much YouTube turned it down, along with a content loudness figure.
What LUFS should a YouTube video be?
Around −14 LUFS integrated, with peaks kept below about −1 dBTP so nothing clips after encoding. The way to get there is loudness normalisation before upload: measure the whole clip, then bring it to the target in one adjustment. Becheloon’s YouTube preset does this in two passes, measuring first and adjusting once. The longer version, with the FFmpeg commands, is in YouTube audio too quiet? Normalize to −14 LUFS.
What can you skip?
- Uploading ProRes or other editing codecs. YouTube re-encodes them, and you only pay for it in upload time. Here’s why those files are so big.
- Exporting at a “maximum” bitrate. Beyond the numbers above, you’re mostly uploading noise. To shrink a big export safely, see how to compress a video without losing quality.
If the same clip is also going to Instagram, the Reels export settings differ in a few places.
Becheloon checks bitrate, codec and loudness in a free report before you upload. Your first three videos get every feature; after that it is a small monthly plan. See current prices.