Render in 720p for YouTube

Any time I think that a render is going to take more than an hour I render to an image sequence because it is much easier to go back and fix things. Most of my comps are 7 seconds or less because that's how long the shots are that I use in my movies. I don't edit in AE.

Follow Szalam's advice and study up on video standards, frame rates, formats and the other essentials that everyone creating video should know. Unfortunately, most new AE users that I have met in the last few years have no idea what they are doing when it comes to rendering video and almost all of of them are doing it wrong. Until you are an expert in standards, compression and formats you should never see Custom in a Composition setting or a render setting. The presets are there to keep you out of trouble and give you a usable product.