Luma Touch Support Forums

Hey all,
I'm trying to find out why my YouTube videos are such poor quality.
I'm shooting mostly on an iPhone 10, 1080, 30fps
I'm editing in LumaFusion (updated to latest version) on a 1080p timeline at 30fps
In LF, my output settings are as closely matched to Google's recommendations for YouTube as LF allows:
Resolution: 1920X1080-1080p/iPhone
Frame Rate: 30fps
Video Quality: Economy (10Mbps)
Audio Quality 48.0khz
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Video Codec: H264
File Format: MPEG4 (.mp4)

I'm optimizing and consolidating the video in LF before I output. On the iPad, they look fantastic. When I upload to YouTube, they look like hell!

Here's the latest one I've been working on, but truthfully all of my videos look this way, and it seems like it started happening when I started editing on LF:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_C0ClE0 ... e=youtu.be

I have no idea what I'm doing wrong. And I've tried every setting combination I can! Someone at YouTube's going to look and say, "Why has this guy uploaded the same video 100 times and then deleted every one?"


Thanks for any help you might have.

Steve Mac

I think it is because of the compression which is going on on youtube. I recommend you to shoot in 4K/30 and edit in a 4K/30 timeline. When you export the video, export it in 1080p/30 but with the highest quality setting.

When you upload it on youtube and youtube is doing his thing with the compression, it does not affect you that bad like it does before.

This is how I do it.

Good advice baum2k

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.. Good things come to those who wait

Thanks for the suggestion, baum2k. So if I were to shoot in 4k/30 in the future, do the rest of my settings look okay? Unfortunately, I'm shooting on an iPhone exclusively with Moment lenses and a gimbal to show that I can do quality videos entirely with ios, but I don't have enough available room in my phone to shoot in 4k. I probably don't have room on my iPad to edit either. What is everyone doing for external storage? Gnarbox, or is there something better?

Hi SteveMacc

You've probably done a lot more YT stuff than me so apologies if you know this

I just followed your link to that YT video and on first look it didn't look the best

But I checked the default resolution and it had chosen 480p - I have a fast reliable internet connection

When I changed the settings to 1080p the video looked fine to me (and my old, tired, eyes)

I'm also assuming you know that YT doesn't instantly give you the resolution you've uploaded at as baum2k eluded

I use a Gnarbox for my external storage but with the newer iStuff having USB-C there are lots of cheaper options now

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.. Good things come to those who wait

Higher resolution uploads to YT use a higher quality codec at their end. 1080p is the basic quality codec, higher than that and they use vp9. I have literally only just tested it with a 2.7K upload and even 1080p playback on YouTube looks nice.

Oh, another regional issue that might affect you... if you live in a PAL TV region, switch to filming and editing at 25fps. For whatever reasons, 30fps uploads in the uk are glitchy and stuttering. Probably all due to catering to YouTube TV apps.

Ps. Upload at the highest bitrate you can comfortably upload. I choose ultra every time.

Uploading in 4K into YouTube results in better overall quality at all playback resolutions. Rumour is that 4K videos are looked upon more favourably by the algorithm, but obviously that's just heresay.

A little gotcha - even if you feed the YouTube iPad app a 4K video file, it appears to only result in a 1080pHD upload. Upload your original file using Safari through the YouTube website and it will - eventually, after processing - become available in 4K if the playback device supports it. It is a LLLOOOOT slower to upload, however.

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Bender & Xing - Hiking Videos from Tasmania, Australia.
https://www.youtube.com/c/BenderXingAbelAdventures