A great video can look bad if it is exported wrongly. Start by choosing the shape for where it will be seen.
Common shapes
- Reels, Stories, Shorts, WhatsApp status: 9:16, 1080 x 1920 px.
- YouTube and shop screens: 16:9, 1920 x 1080 px.
- Feed posts: 4:5 (1080 x 1350 px) or square 1:1 (1080 x 1080 px).
Export basics
- Format: MP4 with H.264 video is accepted almost everywhere.
- Frame rate: keep the rate you shot at. 30 fps is typical for social media.
- Quality: use a good bitrate. Very low bitrate causes blocky, blurry video.
- Audio: AAC stereo is standard.
Avoid double compression
WhatsApp and Instagram compress what you upload, and forwarding a video through chat apps compresses it again. Send the original file by a method that keeps quality, such as a cloud link, and upload to each platform from the best copy.
Keep safe areas
Apps place buttons and captions over the video. Keep important text away from the edges, especially the bottom for vertical video.
One video, several versions
If you need a video for YouTube, Instagram and a shop screen, edit three versions rather than stretching one. Cropping a wide video into a tall one often cuts out the subject.
See our long-form video editing service.
