YouTube video specs and requirements
The largest video site, and where most product demos, tutorials and launch videos end up.
What it is
YouTube hosts regular videos and Shorts. For software, it is where people search for tutorials, reviews and ‘how does this work’ videos, and a YouTube link is what many other sites ask for.
Chrome Web Store and Google Play only accept a YouTube link for promo videos, so the YouTube preset covers those too: upload to YouTube, then paste the link.
What it expects from a video
- YouTube re-encodes everything, and it gives higher-resolution uploads a better encode. Uploading at 1440p or 4K often looks sharper even for viewers watching at 1080p.
- Shorts are vertical and can be up to 3 minutes long.
Recordcake presets
YouTube 1080p
- Size
- 1920×1080 (16:9)
- Frame rate
- 60 fps
- Video
- MP4 · H.264 · 12 Mb/s
- Audio
- AAC · 384 kb/s
- Limits
- —
YouTube 1440p
- Size
- 2560×1440 (16:9)
- Frame rate
- 60 fps
- Video
- MP4 · H.264 · 24 Mb/s
- Audio
- AAC · 384 kb/s
- Limits
- —
YouTube 4K
Uses HEVC. YouTube accepts it, and the file is much smaller than H.264 at 4K.
- Size
- 3840×2160 (16:9)
- Frame rate
- 60 fps
- Video
- MP4 · HEVC · 60 Mb/s
- Audio
- AAC · 384 kb/s
- Limits
- —
YouTube Shorts
Vertical 9:16, up to 3 minutes.
- Size
- 1080×1920 (9:16)
- Frame rate
- 60 fps
- Video
- MP4 · H.264 · 12 Mb/s
- Audio
- AAC · 256 kb/s
- Limits
- up to 3 min
Tips for product demos
- For screen recordings with small text, try the 1440p preset. The extra sharpness is very noticeable on UI.
- For Shorts, Recordcake fits your landscape recording into the vertical frame with padding instead of cropping away the sides of your app.
Official specs
Platforms change their rules from time to time. If a limit matters, check the official page before you upload.
Screen recordings, piece of cake.
Record the demo once. Let Recordcake handle the formats.
Coming soon to the Mac App Store