Best Video Format for YouTube, TikTok, and Social Media
Every social media platform re-encodes your video after upload. The goal is to give the platform the highest-quality source so the output compression has minimal impact on your content.
YouTube
Recommended upload format: H.264 MP4 at highest quality RF (or lossless MOV if from iPhone/Mac)
YouTube re-encodes all uploads to VP9 (desktop) and AVC (mobile) at multiple quality levels. What you upload is the source for re-encoding — the better your source, the better YouTube's output.
Best settings for YouTube upload:
- Container: MP4
- Video: H.264, RF 18 (or 10-bit H.265 for HDR content)
- Audio: AAC 320 kbps or FLAC
- Resolution: 1920×1080 (1080p) or 3840×2160 (4K)
- Framerate: Match your source (24/25/30/60 fps)
TikTok
TikTok aggressively compresses video. Counter it by uploading the highest bitrate source possible:
- Container: MP4
- Resolution: 1080×1920 (vertical 9:16 format)
- No watermarks — TikTok's algorithm penalises videos with overlaid watermarks
- 30 or 60 fps — 60 fps shows smoother
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Instagram (Reels, Feed, Stories)
- Container: MP4 (H.264)
- Resolution: 1080×1920 for Reels/Stories; 1080×1080 for feed square; 1080×1350 for portrait feed
- 30 fps (Instagram compresses 60 fps down to 30)
- Duration: 60 seconds max for feed, 90 seconds for Reels
- MP4, H.264 or H.265
- Resolution: up to 4K (3840×2160) supported
- Max file size: 4 GB
- Facebook preserves quality better than TikTok or Instagram
General Principle
All platforms will compress your video. The general principle: Upload the highest quality source you have, regardless of format. If you shot on iPhone MOV, upload the MOV directly — don't compress it before uploading.