How to pick the correct video format?
The technicalities of video can be daunting even to those who have been working with it for years. We created this short guide to help you know exactly what you need from your videos in terms of technical specifications and which of our plans offers it.
Resolution
Video consists of many images (frames) that move quickly enough to create the illusion of movement. The size of each image defines the resolution — the amount of detail visible based on how many pixels there are in the image.
Framerate
Another major characteristic that defines a video is how quickly the images refresh — how many images are displayed in a second. Traditionally film was shot on 24 frames per second (FPS) though other framerates have since come into use to achieve special effects like slower or smoother motion.
Aspect ratio
Widescreen or portrait? Square or vertical? What even is aspect ratio? It's the proportion of width to the height of the image. For example, a 16:9 video is called wide (or landscape) because the image is 16 units in width and 9 in height. 9:16 on the other hand is a vertical video (or portrait) commonly shot with a smartphone. In the past couple of decades social media brought a few more aspects into the mainstream like 1:1 (square) and 4:5 (Instagram posts). This goes to show that the best fit aspect ratio is defined by where you expect your video to be viewed. Our templates often come in variations to conform to popular aspect ratios and you can switch your video to other available formats from Exports. In order to switch aspect ratios for a finished video, go to Exports, click the downward arrow underneath the thumbnail and select Change aspect ratio.
Transparency
Just like with static graphics, transparency in motion graphics means the background is fully transparent allowing you to easily overlay the animations over other footage. One thing to note is that not all popular video formats support transparency — most notably MP4 lacks this capability. On Videobolt you can export transparent videos in WEBM (for streaming software) or MOV (for video editing).
File size
Video files can grow to be extremely large (several gigabytes per minute of footage) which is why people are always working on new and improved compression techniques. The size of your video file is dependent on many factors: runtime, encoding standard and quality, and ultimately the content of your video (many colors and shades will be harder to compress than minimalistic animation for example). With Videobolt all your files are saved in the cloud so you don't have to worry about sizes or maintaining your local backup. Though you should still do regular backups for important files.
Export format
When saving video data to a file there are two main differentiators — the container and codec. Containers are simple standards that determine the type of file your video will be saved as — e.g. MP4 or MOV. They also determine the baseline limits of compatibility, such as where the file can be played or if it supports certain features like transparency.
Codecs are more complex standards that determine how the stored video data is to be interpreted. Codecs determine the size, quality and performance of your video file. The highest quality that we support is ProRes 4444 which is nearly lossless video perfect for use in video editing and high-end productions.
What works best when posting to YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, etc?
Every platform has their own preferred video format. Here's a quick guide for the more popular ones:
- YouTube, Vimeo — landscape (16:9) at the highest possible quality. In both cases you'll want to upload as high a quality file as you can for the best end result.
- Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn — square (1:1) is the best format when your posts are viewed in-feed. Otherwise all of these platforms are happy to host content in other aspect ratios.
- Instagram — they popularized the post (4:5) format and it's the native format for posts on the platform, though other ratios are also supported.
- Instagram Reels, TikTok, YouTube Shorts — vertical (9:16) is the assumed format for these mobile native platforms.
I hope you now have a better grasp of the technical fundamentals of video. These can be of great help whether you're just dipping your toe into video production or starting out on a creative journey. Learning to design motion graphics, our Authors have crossed many of the same challenges you'll encounter. If you ever feel stuck their work can be a source of inspiration — a starting point. We want you to experiment without obstacles and scale with the size of your content production so all plans come with unlimited video exports:
- Lite Unlimited is ideal for those who are exclusively active on social media. You will have access to our entire library and 720p resolution is more than enough for regular posting.
- Pro Unlimited is intended for up and coming streamers and content marketers. Your videos will be exported at the highest available resolution (depends on the template) and you'll get more server resources dedicated to your renders.
- Business Unlimited comes with all the bells and whistles a more dedicated production and editor needs. In addition to all the benefits of the previous plans, you'll get hours of visualization per video, ProRes 4444 encoding, a dedicated extension for Adobe After Effects and Premiere Pro, the fastest possible renders and first look at any upcoming features.
Videoobolt gives you a library of 12,800+ professionally designed templates that come in various resolutions, framerates and formats so you can find exactly what you need. Whether you’re posting widescreen video on YouTube as a creator or vertical and square videos for social media promos, you can choose the format that’s right for you. There are two things we haven’t covered in this article, duration and licenses. Both are straightforward and well explained on our pricing page, though I would like to note our licensing is designed to give wide coverage for creators while also enabling direct business activities.
Thanks for reading. Watch this space for more news, roundups and guides. Have a great day and see you soon.