Everyday online, video editors and creators ask the same question:
Which online streaming service offers the best quality for video uploads?
Online streaming platforms work by taking your source file and re-encoding that to a much smaller bit-rate version that’s optimal for online streaming and delivery to potentially millions of viewers. All of the platforms here encode to the AVC (Advanced Video Codec) format, which is based on the ubiquitous H.264 codec.
To compare the encoded files objectively, we look at the MediaInfo for each file to see the codec info such as overall bit-rate, which H.264 profile was used and the file size to determine how much compression is applied to the original source file on each platform. Important note: All of the info here is current as of July 2nd, 2017. At any time in the future, the referenced video hosting platforms could alter their encoding codec and methods which could make this data inaccurate.
Source File: For this comparison, we are using a 5 second clip from the Sony A6300 in UHD at 24fps. It was cut in Premiere from the original 100Mbps XAVC-S file, and the exported 2160p H.264 file has an overall bit-rate of 73Mbps, and was encoded using AVC with the profile Main@L5.1. Here is the complete MediaInfo for the source file.
General Info
Format: MPEG-4
Format profile: Base Media / Version 2
Codec ID: mp42 (mp42/mp41)
File size: 48.9 MiB
Duration: 5 s 631 ms
Overall bit rate: 72.9 Mb/s
You can download the source file here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_C6fuieTjybQ3pkaUdQWWRzd1U/view?usp=sharing
Video Info
ID: 1
Format: AVC
Format/Info: Advanced Video Codec
Format profile: Main@L5.1
Format settings, ReFrames: 4 frames
Format settings, GOP: M=4, N=23
Codec ID: avc1
Codec ID/Info: Advanced Video Coding
Duration: 5 s 631 ms
Bit rate: 72.6 Mb/s
Width: 3840 pixels
Height: 2160 pixels
Display aspect ratio: 16:9
Frame rate mode: Constant
Frame rate: 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Standard: NTSC
Color space: YUV
Chroma subsampling: 4:2:0
Bit depth: 8 bits
Scan type: Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame): 0.365
Stream size: 48.7 MiB (100%)
Vimeo Hosted Video
Overall Bit-Rate: 19.7Mbps
File Size: 13.2MB
Percent of Compression: 74%
Vimeo has become the online home for creative content producers that want a clean, ad free platform to showcase their videos. It’s also often referenced as being “higher quality” than YouTube as far as compression and codec. But how does the actual UHD coded used look to Media Info?
General Info
Format: MPEG-4
Format profile: Base Media / Version 2
Codec ID: mp42 (mp42/mp41/isom/avc1)
File size: 13.2 MiB
Duration: 5 s 632 ms
Overall bit rate: 19.7 Mb/s
Video Info
ID: 1
Format: AVC
Format/Info: Advanced Video Codec
Format profile: High@L5.2
Format settings, CABAC: Yes
Format settings, ReFrames: 5 frames
Codec ID: avc1
Codec ID/Info: Advanced Video Coding
Duration: 5 s 630 ms
Bit rate: 19.4 Mb/s
Nominal bit rate: 22.0 Mb/s
Width: 3 840 pixels
Height: 2 160 pixels
Display aspect ratio: 16:9
Frame rate mode: Constant
Frame rate: 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Color space: YUV
Chroma subsampling: 4:2:0
Bit depth: 8 bits
Scan type: Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame): 0.098
Stream size: 13.0 MiB (99%)
Facebook Hosted Video
Overall Bit-Rate: 12.7Mbps
File Size: 8.84MB
Percent of Compression: 82%
Facebook 4k/UHD video test.
Posted by Chris Hunter on Sunday, July 2, 2017
Facebook recently upgraded their streaming video servers, and now offer resolutions up to UHD 2160p at a much higher quality than previously available. At the time of writing this, it isn’t clear if this feature is available to all users or if it is in some kind of limited beta use. Either way, here is the Media Info for the Facebook encoded UHD file:
General Info
Format: MPEG-4
Format profile: Base Media
Codec ID: isom (isom/iso2/avc1/mp41)
File size: 8.84 MiB
Duration: 5 s 846 ms
Overall bit rate: 12.7 Mb/s
Video Info
ID: 2
Format: AVC
Format/Info: Advanced Video Codec
Format profile: High@L5.1
Format settings, CABAC: Yes
Format settings, ReFrames: 5 frames
Codec ID: avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 5 s 631 ms
Bit rate : 13.1 Mb/s
Width: 3 840 pixels
Height: 2 160 pixels
Display aspect ratio: 16:9
Frame rate mode: Variable
Frame rate: 23.976 (23976/1000) FPS
Minimum frame rate: 23.786 FPS
Maximum frame rate: 24.169 FPS
Color space: YUV
Chroma subsampling: 4:2:0
Bit depth: 8 bits
Scan type: Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame): 0.066
Stream size: 8.80 MiB (100%)
Writing library: x264 core 148
Encoding settings: cabac=1 / ref=5 /
YouTube Hosted Video
Overall Bit-Rate: 10.3Mbps
File Size: 6.96MB
Percent of Compression: 86%
YouTube is the original king of online video streaming. Powered by the technology giant Google, YouTube has the resources to build, deploy and maintain a world class video streaming platform, that has grown over the years to accomodate up to 8k resolution, high frame rates, and VR content. But, how does the UHD codec being used look when viewed by MediaInfo?
General Info
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile: Base Media
Codec ID: isom (isom/iso2/avc1/mp41)
File size: 6.96 MiB
Duration: 5 s 689 ms
Overall bit rate: 10.3 Mb/s
Writing application: Lavf56.40.101
Video Info
ID: 1
Format: AVC
Format/Info: Advanced Video Codec
Format profile: High@L5.1
Format settings, CABAC: No
Format settings, ReFrames: 2 frames
Codec ID: avc1
Codec ID/Info: Advanced Video Coding
Duration: 5 s 589 ms
Bit rate: 10.3 Mb/s
Width: 3 840 pixels
Height: 2 160 pixels
Display aspect ratio: 16:9
Frame rate mode: Variable
Frame rate: 24.155 FPS
Minimum frame rate: 23.974 FPS
Maximum frame rate: 90 000.000 FPS
Color space: YUV
Chroma subsampling: 4:2:0
Bit depth: 8 bits
Scan type: Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame): 0.051
Stream size: 6.87 MiB (99%)