Beat the Compression! How to Get Better YouTube Uploads

[00:00] - Today's topic is a video

[00:01] that I've been wanting

[00:03] In fact, it's the reason

[00:05] that I rebuilt my studio into this set

[00:07] from the previous purple one,

[00:08] which I think was like,

[00:10] It's weird to think I've been

[00:12] This is just gonna be loose

[00:15] and I really hope this is

[00:17] that upload YouTube

[00:18] or people that want to just

[00:21] and maybe they're gonna live

[00:23] So I'm gonna be showing you some samples.

[00:24] Now, the only issue here

[00:25] is that those samples are

[00:28] because I'll be taking them from YouTube,

[00:31] which has already had

[00:33] which is important, because

[00:35] But that means when they get

[00:38] they're gonna be even

[00:42] But both of the side-by-sides

[00:45] So it should still be comparable.

[00:47] But if you wanna see the original upload,

[00:49] you can always go back to that

[00:50] and look at what I'm talking about

[00:52] when I reference an older video.

[00:53] This set, if you look at it now,

[00:55] is sort of a lighter gray on both sides,

[00:59] and there's a lot of stuff on it.

[01:00] And if you compare it to the previous set,

[01:02] it was purple, it was dark,

[01:07] The paint was dark purple,

[01:09] and then there was a light

[01:11] go through different shades of purple.

[01:12] And I did a similar set

[01:15] You think I would've learned my lesson.

[01:16] YouTube hates gradients,

[01:19] don't do it, especially dark gradients.

[01:21] If you have a really light

[01:24] if you look close, you might

[01:28] you know, macroblocking

[01:30] but it's not near as bad as

[01:33] But another thing to keep in mind

[01:34] is that YouTube doesn't like dark.

[01:36] There's sort of like a

[01:39] of luminance ranges,

[01:42] it's okay, 'cause it's

[01:44] and it's not gonna be compressed,

[01:46] like nothing's gonna be given to it

[01:47] 'cause it's no data anyway,

[01:49] But if you go slightly up from black,

[01:52] you could probably maybe use

[01:55] or this thing over here,

[01:56] you have a little bit of a wiggle room,

[01:59] where it'll be mostly kind of crushed down

[02:01] and still look okay.

[02:02] But when you get to that

[02:05] or anything up to about middle gray,

[02:08] that's where it's light enough

[02:11] but not light enough to be

[02:15] So you just get like

[02:18] than you would on a lighter scene.

[02:21] So I thought, "Well, I can fix that.

[02:22] I'll make this new set, and

[02:25] Everything will be higher key,

[02:27] and the gradients will be minimized,"

[02:30] like they're up here, "and

[02:33] which is another good piece

[02:37] You see I've got props in the background.

[02:39] The peg board behind me is textured,

[02:42] which we'll talk a little

[02:44] but sometimes can help based

[02:47] and film grain and stuff like that.

[02:48] But all this helps to eliminate the sort

[02:52] of gradient banding effect

[02:55] However, I've introduced a new problem,

[02:57] which is why I never

[02:58] "Here's how to make a set

[02:59] that YouTube won't compress as heavily,"

[03:01] which is that when I made this

[03:06] So I'm gonna try to

[03:07] look at the details of my

[03:09] look at my, you know, whatever,

[03:11] nose and hair, and all that stuff.

[03:12] If I make the rest of

[03:16] it's quite likely, 'cause

[03:19] that all of a sudden,

[03:20] I get sharper and all the

[03:24] YouTube only sort of gives

[03:28] And if you create a scene that's brighter

[03:30] and has all this other stuff in it

[03:31] to defeat the bad

[03:35] well, now, this stuff requires bits,

[03:38] and those bits get taken

[03:40] or rather spread more evenly throughout,

[03:41] so you get less detail on your face.

[03:43] I think these are important things,

[03:44] because if you can start

[03:48] a production design, then

[03:50] to just changing settings

[03:52] which we're about to get to now.

[03:53] If you shoot with a picture profile

[03:55] that doesn't add any sharpening,

[03:57] for instance, I shoot this one in S-Log3,

[03:59] and I have the sharpening turned

[04:02] 'cause I like to do it in post.

[04:03] And in fact, I don't do it in post,

[04:06] because when I watch

[04:08] not on YouTube, it looks great.

[04:10] Just that 4K export,

[04:13] With the lens that I use

[04:15] there's enough detail,

[04:16] like I'm looking at myself

[04:17] and I go, "This shot looks outstanding."

[04:20] Then I upload it to YouTube,

[04:23] If you add sharpening, or

[04:27] well, if you're using a profile

[04:28] that already has quite a

[04:30] like some of the profiles are just fit

[04:32] for delivery right away,

[04:33] then maybe you don't need to add it.

[04:35] What I would say is, for me,

[04:37] when I add just enough

[04:41] to look slightly

[04:46] that's good for YouTube.

[04:47] YouTube makes everything softer.

[04:48] This isn't fully, like,

[04:50] just a, like, targeted compression thing,

[04:53] it's just everything looks

[04:55] So sharpen it a bit too much in advance,

[04:58] so that when it gets to YouTube,

[04:59] it falls back to the right sharpening.

[05:01] This made a huge difference for me,

[05:03] probably the single biggest

[05:06] that slightly over-sharpen your footage,

[05:08] and it'll look way better on YouTube.

[05:10] Of course, if you are shooting an S-Log3,

[05:12] somebody might have some

[05:15] that'll make your whole S-Log3

[05:18] so much easier and give you

[05:21] in just one step.

[05:22] That's what I strive for with my LUTs.

[05:24] Check 'em out using

[05:26] Anyway, getting back to

[05:28] you know, like I've got a little

[05:31] If the edges of this

[05:33] YouTube will kind of compress it more.

[05:35] But if you add a little bit of sharpening,

[05:36] and it gives it a bit of an

[05:37] "Eh, don't compress that as much.

[05:40] Preserve those details."

[05:41] Now, the other one that

[05:42] and one of the reasons why I

[05:45] I've always been trying to

[05:48] using a better codec,

[05:51] finding ways to better

[05:54] and that kind of thing.

[05:55] And so the biggest disappointment for me

[05:57] was that H.264 looks better

[06:02] Even though H.265 is more efficient,

[06:04] theoretically, you give them

[06:06] you'd think that H.265

[06:09] I don't know what it is,

[06:10] but when you upload an

[06:13] it hits it harder than

[06:15] Another one that sucked for

[06:18] If you don't even know

[06:20] then maybe this isn't an

[06:21] But often, when you go

[06:23] you'll have the choice

[06:25] variable bit rate, and then

[06:27] "Constant QP," or, "CQP,"

[06:30] That is the quantizer.

[06:31] It's the thing

[06:32] where you can set like

[06:34] The closer to zero the value

[06:38] and the bigger the

[06:39] So what I would do is, I

[06:41] at a time until I could no

[06:47] And the advantage is that they're

[06:51] than if you just sort of set,

[06:52] like, a really high-quality

[06:55] And I would dial that in perfectly.

[06:57] And I've been doing that

[06:59] five, six months, dialing it in,

[07:01] and being really, really,

[07:04] And then I've been getting

[07:06] "Hey, Gerald, the quality

[07:08] Are you still uploading in 4K?"

[07:09] And I started to compare

[07:12] and yeah, it kind of doesn't

[07:14] In the last couple weeks,

[07:15] I tried changing all the settings again.

[07:17] And if I don't use a quantizer,

[07:21] quality goes way up on YouTube.

[07:22] I think efficiency of bitrate

[07:26] YouTube actually just wants more bits,

[07:29] and it tells it something about

[07:32] But unfortunately, this

[07:34] because I also tried uploading

[07:37] big files that aren't nearly

[07:40] that kind of thing.

[07:42] And there's like no noticeable gain

[07:44] over my optimal H.264 settings.

[07:47] But I also went the other way

[07:49] And again, punished.

[07:51] Super efficient codecs, like

[07:53] Okay, now, let's talk about

[07:56] that you can change

[07:57] to improve your YouTube

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[09:06] This next one might be a bit of a placebo,

[09:08] but I also started testing

[09:12] It's marginal,

[09:12] but I feel like MP4 files

[09:16] And so I put this all

[09:18] so I started using MP4

[09:22] with sort of high-quality tuning,

[09:24] and then I was just

[09:26] like five megabits per second at a time

[09:28] until I could no longer see

[09:33] when I uploaded it.

[09:34] And the highest bitrate

[09:37] to where I couldn't tell

[09:39] was 45 megabits per second.

[09:41] And that's at 24 frames per second.

[09:42] If you shoot at a higher frame rate,

[09:44] so like 60 frames a second,

[09:48] a higher bitrate.

[09:50] So I'll put all my

[09:51] I use DaVinci Resolve, and I use NVENC,

[09:53] but I don't think either of

[09:55] I think what's more

[09:58] with a variable bit rate, tuned highly,

[10:01] with the up to 45 megabits

[10:05] at 24 to 30 frames per second.

[10:07] And you export out a file

[10:08] that is slightly more sharpened

[10:11] the YouTube quality will

[10:14] This would surprise you,

[10:16] 'cause it's the same

[10:19] I didn't, the scene, nothing,

[10:21] And just look how mushy using

[10:27] even though the file looks

[10:30] compared to the H.264

[10:34] And if you add a bit of sharpness,

[10:36] man, does it look so much better.

[10:38] There is one other thing

[10:40] if you're committed to

[10:43] of those issues with production design,

[10:45] dark gradients and that kind of thing,

[10:47] based on dithering principles,

[10:48] I've seen mixed results personally,

[10:51] and from other videos that I've watched,

[10:52] of using like a film grain.

[10:54] Now, this requires a lot of finessing

[10:56] and is very scene-dependent,

[10:57] but if you've done all these things,

[10:58] and you're still getting

[11:00] by YouTube compression

[11:03] I would say try throwing

[11:06] and see if that helps.

[11:07] I just hope this video was helpful.

[11:09] Like I said,

[11:09] it's been over a year of

[11:12] And I finally have an image,

[11:14] which I think should be the

[11:17] you know, based on my settings,

[11:21] Thanks for watching.

[11:23] Good luck with your YouTube uploads.

[11:26] Alright... I'm done.