Uncompressed audio option in H.264 ????

[SDUST]

How can I export uncompressed audio; with my video - in H.264 format?

The only options on dropdown are AAC, Dolby and MPEG. Any way??

[Ann Bens]

I am  afraid the answer is: no way.

[SDUST]

Just going through the options on Format; if I choose 'Quicktime'... and then Preset 'H.264' - I do then get the option to export uncompressed audio...

Best way?

[Jim_Simon]

To achieve this, you would have export the video and audio separately and use a third-party muxer to combine the two into one file.

[SDUST]

As above - you can export uncompressed audio using H264 codec - as long as format is QuickTime. Or am I missing something?

See screenshot:

Only issue now is - I just tried an export and..... silence!!! Why am I not getting any audio at all? Exporting in another format; the audio is there - but not in the export setting I need (H264 but with uncompressed audio...)

Any tips or advice?

[Jim_Simon]

A guiding principle that I've had a lot of success with is: Don't use QuickTime if you can avoid it.

That leaves my earlier suggestion as the only option, I think.

[SDUST]

Can I ask why? Genuinely trying to explore every option!

[Jim_Simon]

QuickTime has been the cause of many issues.  Gamma shift and unresolved bugs are two.

Urgent Call to Action: Uninstall QuickTime for Windows Today

Those issues are avoided when not using QuickTime.

[SDUST]

Wow; all news to me. Thank you for that.

And so the dilemma now is... seeing that YouTube actually recommends 24 Bit 44.1 WAV as the audio (for music videos) - how best to upload a video to YouTube with 24 Bit 44.1 uncompressed audio?

If I want to stay using H.264 - I have no choice but use QuickTime (if I want 24 bit audio). Otherwise, if I want to use H.264, I have no choice but to compress the audio (ouch!).

Link: Encoding specifications for music videos - YouTube Help

*note 24 bit WAV.

[Stefan Gruenwedel]

In the Export Settings dialog box, set Format to H.264. For the Preset, choose YouTube 1080p HD. That's supposed to be supported by YouTube, so see if it works for you.

[SDUST]

Thank you, yes that would work - but it will be compressed audio still: AAC - rather than uncompressed 24Bit WAV - which is what I'm aiming for. I will keep experimenting!

[Jim_Simon]

how best to upload a video to YouTube

I recommend using DNxHD rather than H.264.  The audio is Uncompressed, which means no sync errors.  (2017 introduces a slight sync error with all compressed audio formats.)  And the final YouTube-transcoded quality is a bit better.

[SDUST]

I will check that out today! Thanks.

I'm approaching the point wherein - I will export as H.264 with compressed audio (as YouTube suggest on their general formatting pages). And then again in QT H.264 with raw 24 bit audio - and then again with your suggestion of DNxHD...

I will then upload all three versions to YouTube - and whichever looks (and sounds) best - will stay up and and other two, I will delete.

[Jim_Simon]

A reasonable plan.  I'm interested in the results.  Please post back.

[SDUST]

Apologies - but upon going through the motions here; I note that the filetype for DnxHD is '.mxf' - which YouTube does not allow... how to get around this - I assume I've missed something?

Thank you

[Stefan Gruenwedel]

Can you rename the file with .mp4 and upload it?

[Jim_Simon]

the filetype for DnxHD is '.mxf' - which YouTube does not allow

It's always worked for me.

[Ben Kleschinsky]

Old thread, but this the exact dilemma I have been experiencing. I upload much of my own music to YouTube in H264, and not so much video but my audio sounds drastically more compressed when I listen to the original file.

The reason for this is when you upload a lossy file, YouTube is transcoding a lossy format to another lossy format.

I actually have a clip uploaded to my channel that sounds distorted, and this week I am going to work on exporting an uncompressed 10bit file and putting it into my own compressor to DNxHD.

I am going to do the blind test and will post on here my side by side comparison in a few weeks.

[Ben Kleschinsky]

Alright I am back, and this is what I have found.

When it comes to streaming, YouTube has the best sound quality of all other platforms, including Spotify and Apple Music. This is because they are the only company utilizing the codec OPUS.

OPUS was developed a few years ago, replacing the great Vorbis. Now why is this important? This is the key to making your YouTube uploads sounding great. If you notice YouTube topic channels sound the best. Now I have my own music that I upload to my channel, and I also like to archive obscure vinyl and other formats. I want my listeners to hear by far the best sound when they view my channel.

It does not have to do with the compression in your video editing software, I repeat it does not have to do with H264. H.264 can sound really great, and AAC 192KPBS is more than adequate for most listeners on YouTube.

The problem is the resolution of your video. If you upload a 1080P video to YouTube, Google is going to encode the audio in your video in MP4. This is a bad mistake, because it is taking an already compressed AAC audio file, and compressing it down even further. This is going to sound bad and not the result you want.

The trick is to upload your file at a resolution of 1440P not 1080P. Now Google will always stream your video in VP9 video and OPUS audio in a WEBM compartment even if you stream @ 480P.  This does not work on Safari, but all other browsers including the YouTube app on Android will stream your video in OPUS by default.

I have included links to an H264 compressed file I uploaded to YouTube in 1440P resolution, side by side with the MP4 upload. I was not expecting that big of a difference, you cannot even compare. Make sure you watch them on Chrome or Firefox on a desktop computer, or Android app with high resolution enabled. Unfortunately Apple does not support VP9, not compatible on iPhone.

MP4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFUDqCohxLQ

OPUS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wad7K4iYDT4

I have also noticed that H264 may sound even better than uploading a giant uncompressed file to YouTube which is not recommended and will hog their servers. Also note your video will stream in MP4 for the first day and then it will switch over to OPUS. Hopefully Google does not end this loophole, because other than that you have to be a big channel for a 1080P upload to be encoded in VP9. I'm hoping this helps out anyone out there, took me a long time to figure this out.

[astypa]

Hi Ben,

This is the solution I have been looking for, for literally years. I am excited to give this a try. I was wondering - is this as simple as inputting 1440P as my output setting within adobe premiere? Is there any specific way to set this up so that it exports in the correct way/ends up using VP9 as you said? 

Hope to hear back from you.

Adam

[Ben Kleschinsky]

I am just reading this reply so sorry for the late responce. Anyone reading this thread though yes, as of 2020 it is still as simple as making your resolution 2560x1440P. If you want a square format then I have found 1918x1440P will do justice for square videos. In order for Google servers to process the higher resolutions they have to be streamed in VP9/OPUS. Motion in video is smoother, and audio resolution is much higher. I have been doing this for all my videos. You just upload your file and YouTube does all the rest automatically. 

[MeethVlogs]

Hi, I'm about to premiere my music video in a few days too, I was reading the thread but didn't get how to export the video in the 2560x1440 resolution.

I only have a few days left to release, if you see this can you please brush up on how to export the h.264 with no compression to the audio after exporting?

Thank you so much!

[Ann Bens]

Simple answer: you cannot. H.264 is either AAC or MPEG.

[Ben Kleschinsky]

I should say there will always be compression with audio when exporting in H264 to clarify. I use Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere, and export in 2560X1440 H264. The audio is compressed to AAC, but the AVC codec many websites use is particulary bad in workflow with Premiere. Higher resolution files exported will ensure that websites will encode your video file in more efficient VP9.

However it should also be known, websites including YouTube are working on new AV1 codec that is said to replace outdated AVC and give equivalent efficiency to VP9. It is going to be introduced in 2023. It's in beta stage now. This is going to address the problem of websites mishandling H264 compression with unwanted distoration, to make seamless uploads more compatible with Premiere. Pretty soon I speculate this won't be  necessary for much longer.