YouTube Upload Encoding Settings: MP4, H.264, AAC and Bitrate Table

YouTube's recommended upload encoding page lists these baseline settings. They matter for 24/7 channels because the files you prepare become the source of the loop.

Encode and upload at the frame rate the content was recorded in. Common rates are 24, 25, 30, 48, 50 and 60 frames per second, and others are acceptable. Interlaced content should be deinterlaced before upload: for example, 1080i60 becomes 1080p30, and 60 interlaced fields per second become 30 progressive frames per second.

The bitrates are recommendations for reference, with standard frame rates (24, 25, 30) first and high frame rates (48, 50, 60) second:

HDR uploads get higher recommendations: 1080p is 10 Mbps (15 Mbps at high frame rates), 1440p is 20 Mbps (30) and 2160p is 44 to 56 Mbps (66 to 85). The page marks 480p and 360p as not supported for HDR. Recommended audio bitrates are 128 kbps for mono, 384 kbps for stereo and 512 kbps for 5.1.

These are upload recommendations. Live ingestion has its own table, covered in our encoder settings guide.

YouCast turns the videos you upload into a 24/7 live stream that runs from the cloud, to YouTube and, with a stream key, to Twitch, Kick and Instagram, so there is no encoder to configure, no computer to keep awake and no home upload line to saturate.

Prepare your loop videos with these settings and upload them to YouCast. A clean MP4 with H.264 video and AAC audio is the safest starting point.

You can try one stream on the free trial and add more streams as the channel grows.