4K 60fps for YouTube - Best export settings to use in 2025?

[Tripecac2]

Hi, I've been uploading 4K 60fps content to YouTube for a couple years now, mostly 1-2 hour walks and bike rides filmed with GoPro and Pocket 3. Back when I was getting started, the Adobe community helped me pick exporting settings appropriate to the type of content I was creating.  I've been pretty happy with those settings until a recent (and currently ongoing) bug in YouTube's TV streaming has made me start thinking again about exporting options.

It's been a couple years since I set up my exporting preset.  Premiere Pro has received several updates, as has YouTube.  High resolution content is now more common (especially with the increasing popularity of VR and 8K TVs), as is high bitrate content (thanks to 60fps becoming a standard for game streams). 

So I'm wondering if there are some adjustments I can make to my exporting preset that will either improve the quality, or make my exports more compatible with what YouTube wants these days (to minimize the chance of bugs like the current one affecting my videos).

Here are the exporting settings I've been using since 2023:

Format : TMPGEnc H.264 using this plugin: https://tmpgenc.pegasys-inc.com/en/product/tppm4.html

Base Video Settings

Video Encoder : x264  [cannot be changed]

Profile : High

Level : Automatic (Level 52)

Frame Size : UHD (2840 x 2160)

Aspect Ratio : Pixel 1:1

Framerate : 59.95 fps

Entropy Coding : CABAC

Display Mode : Progressive  [cannot be changed]

High-Precision Deinterlace : disabled

Field Order : Top Field First  [greyed out, cannot be changed]

Performance : Stnadard

Use Maximum Render Quality: ENABLED

Render Alpha Channeel Only : disabled

Time Interpolation: Frame Sampling

Bitrate Settings

Rate Control Mode : CBR (Constant Bitrate)

Pass Count : 1 Pass  [cannot be changed]

Bitrate (Mbps) : 200

Maximum Bitrate (Mbps) :  [disabled]

Quality :  [disabled]

QP IFrame :  [disabled]

QP P Frame :  [disabled]

QP B Frame :  [disabled]

VBV Buffer Size : 0

GOP Structure Settings

GOP Structure : IBBBPBBBPBBBPBBBPBBB...  [can't be changed]

Maximum Number of Reference Frames : 0

Normal Number of Frames in GOP : 250

Minimuml [sic] Number of Frames in GOP : 0

Number of B Frames in GOP : 3

Detect Scene Change : ENABLED

Detection Sensitivity : 40

Does anything leap out as something that could use improvement?  Or are these settings still good ones for 4K 60fps YouTube content? 

And what about the TMPGEnc plugin?  Is that still useful these days, or has it been surpassed by Premiere Pro's own exporting options (or another plugin)?

Thanks!

[R Neil Haugen]

One of the truly counter-intuitive things about the streaming services, apparently both YouTube and Vimeo, is the higher the bitrate you upload, the more they compress the file. And that more compression actually reduces final "visual resolution" and induces artifacting at times.

So moving the bitrate up and down to find the spot where you get best final results is needed. I've seen one major b-cast type editor say for 1080 files he still doesn't go over around 10Mbps. And of course scales that up by relative pixel count of the framesize.

Weird, but the guy gets good results.

[Tripecac2]

Do you think CBR 200 Mbps is working against me (in terms for forcing YouTube to do excessive compression)?  I remember doing tests a couple years ago, comparing 100 Mbps to 200 Mbps.  I felt like 200 was better, but it could've been placebo.

My source material is 150 Mbps, which I set using GoPro Labs.  I don't think I can safely go above that with the GoPros I have (Hero 12 is my latest).  Should I therefore be setting the rendering bitrate to 150 Mbps instead of 200?

As for the GOP, I've changed that to 60.  I don't know why it was 250; I see that I was supposed to set it to 60 years ago!

I can re-render my project with GOP 60.  I'm just wondering about the bitrate.  Should I stick with 200 Mbps or switch to 150?

[R Neil Haugen]

No reason to go above the media as you're not adding anything. 

I would suggest doing separate exports at 150, 100, and around 75 Mbps  and variable bitrate, as then you only have actually needed data.

Upload them without the naming being clear about tge difference to anyone else. Ask a couple people to view them abd tell you their impressions.

[Tripecac2]

I went ahead and tested CBR 75, 100, 150, and 200 Mbps.  I haven't tested VBR yet.  I then compared them, and honestly couldn't see much difference on my TV.  But my TV struggles to play any sort of 4K60, so it's hard to get a good test.

Plus, the segment I'm testing looks awful (which is why I chose it).  The trees and the sand are really blotchy once YouTube gets done with its compression:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7VUOmwQsL4

I've battered my head against the YouTube blotchiness in the past, though.  Some scenes are just "difficult".  Once GoPro starts adding noise and blur (usually do to low light and/or excessive movement), Premiere Pro starts to struggle, and then YouTube completely fumbles the ball.  That's just how it goes, at least in my experience.

Watching that blotchy clip 4 times (for 75, 100, 150, 200) is painful, especially when you add in YouTube's buffering.

So I think I'll just "keep it simple stupid" and export at the same bitrate as the source media: 150 Mbps.  I also switched the GOP from 250 to 60, as Averdahl reminded me.  I'll render the entire video overnight, and then upload tomorrow.  Once it's done processing, I'll compare it to the 200 Mbps original, and keep whichever one looks better.  In the case of a tie, I'll keep the 150 Mbps since it's smaller.

In the future, though, I would very much like to do some more thorough testing of bitrates.  I'm intrigued by the idea that the best quality YouTube result doesn't necessarily require the highest possible bitrate.  I wonder where the sweet spot is...  Has anyone done exhaustive testing on it?

[Tripecac2]

I finished rendering and uploading the 150 Mbps video to YouTube, and then waited for 4K processing to finish.

I did another frame comparison (spot-checking using 1, 2, 3, etc. on the keyboard to jump to certain points).  They have differences, but neither one is "better" than the other.  I actually added a little sharpening to the 150 Mbps before I made it (hoping that would help the trail less blotchy) but no luck; the trail's still blotchy.  And now some of the leaves look a little oversharpened.  So I'll stick with the original (200 Mbps).  However, in future videos I'll use 150 Mbps, because it looks to be the same *quality* as 200 Mbs, and takes up less space.

Before I publish the video, however, I'd like to know: given the clip I posted previously, is there a particular "silver bullet" setting or plugin which is likely to reduce that particular type of YouTube blotchiness?  Or is it pretty much doomed?

[R Neil Haugen]

It's the nature of the compression format used. No compression format seems to be without some potential issues, but the ones the do the most compression for some odd reason seem to have the most artifacting/blocking issues. Gee ... wonder why ...   😉

[Averdahl]

Two things i would change since you are exporting progressive footage is to not export with the field order set to Top Field First. I would also change the GOP from 250 to 60. You will get better quality if the GOP match the amount of frames/second.

EDIT:

I installed the TMPGEnc plugin and see "Field Order: Top Field First" as well and cannot change it. The summary in the export panel says that the output will be progressive so it seems to be ok.

Encoding settings are a big rabbit hole so its hard to say "this works and this don´t". For example, in the export window click on Advanced to open the rabbit hole of settings. To find the best settings it´s best to try, try, change, try over and over again. For shorter videos i always reccomend exporting and uploading ProRes LT. For longer videos as the ones you upload the file size will be huge and the time it takes to upload will be looong unless you have really speedy internet connection.

Often the default settings are good, but i always change the GOP to match the freame rate i export.

Hi, I've been uploading 4K 60fps content to YouTube...

Base Video Settings

Field Order : Top Field First  [greyed out, cannot be changed]

GOP Structure Settings

Normal Number of Frames in GOP : 250

By @Tripecac2