Video Conversion

How to convert videos for YouTube uploads

Posted April 18, 2017
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Clipchamp Utilities and video compression has been discontinued in 2021. But no worries. If you're looking to create and optimize videos for YouTube, our free video editor is still fully equipped with easy editing tools to take your videos to the next level. It also lets you trim, cut, control speed, record screen and webcam, add captions and titles, create and insert GIFs, add stock media, voiceovers, green screen effects, and more. Get started with Clipchamp free online video editor now.

Uploading videos to YouTube can be a tedious task. Only certain file types are supported, which can make the uploading process a little tricky when your file is not in the right format as it will either get rejected or will have to get changed on YouTube’s servers first before it can get published. Luckily, Clipchamp provides a solution for converting any file format into one that is compatible with YouTube before you upload it to your channel.

1. Supported File Formats

YouTube only supports these file formats:

  • .MOV

  • .MPEG4

  • .MP4

  • .AVI

  • .WMV

  • .MPEGPS

  • .FLV

  • 3GPP

  • WebM

  • DNxHR

  • ProRes

  • CineForm

  • HEVC (h265)

If your video is in another format, you will need to convert videos for YouTube compatibility before you upload.

Clipchamp offers a preset option to convert your video to a YouTube compatible format. To do so, follow these steps:

2. Register a free account, then select “Convert my Videos”

Go to clipchamp.com to convert your videos. After logging into your account (you can create one for free), drag and drop the video you want to convert into the box, or click convert my videos to select your video from your computer.

optimise video for web

3. Select video optimization settings

The default selection for optimization is WEB. This allows you to upload your video in the best file format, resolution and size for YouTube, Facebook and Vimeo. You have the option to optimize for Windows, Mobile and Animation here as well. 

optimize-video-youtube

4. Customize your settings

You have the option to further customize the resolution, format and quality of your video. We recommend keeping the resolution of your file, contained in an MP4 format at medium quality to ensure your video uploads quickly without sacrificing visible quality.

convert-video-youtube

5. Convert videos for YouTube

Select start to convert your video in a few moments to the format you selected.

convert-video-youtube

6. Queue your upload to YouTube

Select Upload & Share to automatically upload your video to your YouTube account once the conversion is finished. You can add the title, description and audience settings here. Click publish to allow Clipchamp to publish your video once converted. And voilà! Your video is getting uploaded directly into your channel in a compatible format and at a file size that is often smaller and thus faster to upload than your original file.

Blog post image: Screen-Shot-2017-04-13-at-1.08.31-pm.png

Further reading

In a previous post, we listed a number of reasons why YouTube uploads can be very slow or failing altogether. Converting videos before uploading them can help in many cases. However, if you want to download and convert your favorite youtube videos to mp3 format, you will need youtube to mp3 converters.

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