Video Formats & Codecs

What is Resolution?

Video resolution is the number of pixels displayed in each frame, expressed as width by height (e.g., 1920x1080 for 1080p, 3840x2160 for 4K), determining the sharpness and detail level of the video.

Resolution Explained

Resolution determines how much detail a video frame contains and how sharp it appears on different screen sizes. Common video resolutions include 720p (1280x720, HD), 1080p (1920x1080, Full HD), 1440p (2560x1440, 2K/QHD), and 2160p (3840x2160, 4K/UHD). For vertical short-form video, the standard resolution is 1080x1920 (1080p portrait). Higher resolution files contain more data per frame, requiring higher bitrates and producing larger file sizes. Platform recommendations vary: YouTube supports up to 8K, TikTok recommends 1080p for optimal quality-to-performance ratio, and Instagram Reels compresses anything above 1080p on upload. Choosing the right resolution involves matching the capture or generation resolution to the intended platform to avoid unnecessary file size without quality benefit.

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Related Terms

Bitrate

Bitrate is the amount of data used to represent each second of video, measured in kilobits per second (Kbps) or megabits per second (Mbps). Higher bitrate generally produces better video quality at the cost of larger file size.

Codec

A codec is a software algorithm that encodes raw video data into a compressed format for storage or transmission, and decodes it for playback. Common video codecs include H.264, H.265 (HEVC), VP9, and AV1.

Aspect Ratio

Aspect ratio is the proportional relationship between a video's width and height, expressed as two numbers separated by a colon (e.g., 16:9 for landscape, 9:16 for vertical, 1:1 for square).

Export Preset

An export preset is a saved configuration of video output settings including codec, resolution, bitrate, aspect ratio, and format, allowing creators to apply consistent export parameters across multiple projects.