Social Media Upload Cheat Sheet
With constantly changing supported codecs, bitrates, and resolutions on Social Media, it’s hard to keep track of all these numbers. That’s why I created a full list of the most important channels and formats for the highest-quality videos and photos possible.
If you spot any faults or have any suggestions for updated versions, please let me know.
Don’t forget to bookmark this site, so you can quickly access it, every time you need it. You can also download the file as a .pdf soon.
Tip 1: Instagram will interpret all footage to either 30 or 60 fps, so our lovely 23.976 / 25 frames can look choppy. You can either switch to 30 frames or just live with it.
| 1080p - vertical - SDR | |
|---|---|
| Container | MP4 |
| Audio Codec | AAC-LC |
| Audio Bitrate | Stereo: 384 Kbit/s 5.1: 512 Kbit/s |
| Video Codec | H.264 |
| Resolution | 1080 x 1920 (9 x 16) |
| Framerates | upload anything, it will be converted to 30 or 60 |
| Video Bitrate | 10 Mbit/s up to 15 Mbit/s |
| Gamma & Color Space | Gamma 2.4 / Rec.709 |
TikTok
Tip 1: Make sure to allow high-quality uploads in your TikTok settings first (More Options > Upload HD).
| 1080p - vertical - SDR | |
|---|---|
| Container | MP4 |
| Audio Codec | AAC-LC |
| Audio Bitrate | Stereo: 384 Kbit/s 5.1: 512 Kbit/s |
| Video Codec | H.264 |
| Resolution | 1080 x 1920 (9 x 16) |
| Framerates | upload anything, it will be converted to 30 or 60 |
| Video Bitrate | 10 Mbit/s up to 15 Mbit/s |
| Gamma & Color Space | Gamma 2.4 / Rec.709 |
YouTube
Tip 1: if you want to upload anything under 4k, upscale the videos to 4k during export, so YouTube uses the higher quality VP9 codec. For 6k footage, you need to upscale to 8k.
Tip 2: Add a marginal amount of film grain in your videos, especially with talking heads or static shots. This causes YouTube to compress them less, resulting in less color banding.
Tip 3: export in a 19.5:9 aspect ratio, ensuring to fill the full screen on mobile devices which account for 90% of YouTube viewers.
| 4k - 2160p - SDR | |
|---|---|
| Aspect Ratio (19.5 : 9) | 3840 x 1772 |
| Container | MP4 |
| Audio Codec | AAC-LC |
| Audio Bitrate | Stereo: 384 Kbit/s 5.1: 512 Kbit/s |
| Video Codec | H.264 |
| Framerates | 23.976 up to 60 PAL and NTSC possible |
| Video Bitrate | 60 Mbit/s up to 150 Mbit/s |
| Gamma & Color Space | Gamma 2.4 / Rec.709 |
| 8k - 4320p - SDR | |
|---|---|
| Aspect Ratio (19.5 : 9) | 7680 x 3544 |
| Container | MP4 |
| Audio Codec | AAC-LC |
| Audio Bitrate | Stereo: 384 Kbit/s 5.1: 512 Kbit/s |
| Video Codec | H.264 |
| Framerates | 23.976 up to 60 PAL and NTSC possible |
| Video Bitrate | 240 Mbit/s up to 600 Mbit/s |
| Gamma & Color Space | Gamma 2.4 / Rec.709 |
| 4k - 2160p - HDR | |
|---|---|
| Aspect Ratio (19.5 : 9) | 3840 x 1772 |
| Container | QuickTime (MOV) |
| Audio Codec | AAC-LC |
| Audio Bitrate | Stereo: 384 Kbit/s 5.1: 512 Kbit/s |
| Video Codec | DNxHR (Type HQX 10-bit) |
| Framerates | 23.976 up to 60 PAL and NTSC possible |
| Video Bitrate | 60 Mbit/s up to 150 Mbit/s |
| Gamma & Color Space | HDR Rec.2020 PQ (P3-D65 limited) Rec.2020 ST2084 1000 nits |
| 8k - 4320p - HDR | |
|---|---|
| Aspect Ratio (19.5 : 9) | 7680 x 3544 |
| Container | QuickTime (MOV) |
| Audio Codec | AAC-LC |
| Audio Bitrate | Stereo: 384 Kbit/s 5.1: 512 Kbit/s |
| Video Codec | DNxHR (Type HQX 10-bit) |
| Framerates | 23.976 up to 60 PAL and NTSC possible |
| Video Bitrate | 240 Mbit/s up to 600 Mbit/s |
| Gamma & Color Space | HDR Rec.2020 PQ (P3-D65 limited) Rec.2020 ST2084 1000 nits |