Technical Specification
Video
ContainerMP4 (Fast Start required)
CodecH.264 High Profile / H.265 / VP9
Resolution1920×1080 min (1440p or 4K preferred)
Aspect Ratio16:9
Bitrate @ 1080p8 Mbps min, 15–25 Mbps recommended
Bitrate @ 1440p16 Mbps recommended
Bitrate @ 4K35–45 Mbps recommended
Frame Rate23.976 / 24 / 25 / 29.97 / 30 / 60 fps
Color SpaceRec. 709 (SDR) or HDR10
ScanProgressive only (no interlace)
Audio
CodecAAC-LC (preferred)
ChannelsStereo or Stereo + 5.1
Sample Rate48 kHz
Loudness Target-14 LUFS integrated
True Peak Max-1 dBTP
Captions
FormatsSRT, VTT, SBV
RequiredNo (strongly recommended)
DeliverySidecar (Studio → Subtitles)
EncodingUTF-8 without BOM
Max chars/line80
The 4K Quality Paradox
Uploading at 1440p or 4K produces better final quality than uploading at 1080p — even if your target audience watches at 1080p.
1080p Upload
YouTube selects H.264 codec for re-encode. Higher compression artifacts. Noticeable quality loss at 100% zoom.
1440p Upload
YouTube selects VP9 codec. Better compression efficiency. Final 1080p stream is noticeably cleaner than a direct 1080p upload.
4K Upload ✓ Best
VP9 at full resolution. Best quality at every resolution tier. VMAF testing (2026 r/videography) shows 4K ≈ 1440p with minimal file size difference.
Pipewright flags 1080p uploads with an informational recommendation — not a failure, but a quality opportunity.
Loudness — How YouTube's Normalization Actually Works
YouTube Loudness Rule
If your audio is louder than -14 LUFS, YouTube attenuates it — no quality penalty.
If your audio is quieter than -14 LUFS, YouTube does NOT boost it. Content sounds flat.
Delivering below -16 LUFS is a quality failure — viewer perception issue, not a rejection error.
Platform Comparison
YouTube
-14 LUFSDown only
TikTok
-14 LUFSDown only
Instagram
-14 LUFSDown only
Netflix
-27 LKFSDialogue-gated, reject on miss
Broadcast TV
-24 LUFSHardware enforced
Common Failure Modes
Pipewright Validation Checks — YouTube Standard
Resolution ≥ 1080p (flag with 1440p/4K recommendation)
Bitrate ≥ 8 Mbps at 1080p
Audio loudness -14 to -16 LUFS integrated
True peak below -1 dBTP
MP4 with moov atom at front (Fast Start)
No edit lists in MP4 container
Progressive scan — no interlacing
SRT caption encoding is UTF-8 without BOM
VTT file starts with 'WEBVTT' header line
Frame rate is one of: 23.976 / 24 / 25 / 29.97 / 30 / 60
Duration matches source (within 1 frame)
No commercial blacks >2 seconds