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#1 2012-11-28 09:57:20

orschiro
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Registered: 2009-06-04
Posts: 2,136
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[solved] Looking for a simple YouTube video converter

Hello,

I am not a video expert and all my video editing is limited to converting my videos to a YouTube optimised format before uploading onto the platform.

At the moment I am using transcoder. However, I would prefer an other more minimal program which comes with predefined export profiles for optimal quality for YouTube.

Does anyone of you use a very minimal and leightweight converter which is sufficient for YouTube videos?

Regards

Last edited by orschiro (2012-11-28 21:40:13)

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#2 2012-11-28 20:57:58

Jodell
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Registered: 2009-10-09
Posts: 285

Re: [solved] Looking for a simple YouTube video converter

Handbrake?

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#3 2012-11-28 21:22:57

drcouzelis
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From: Connecticut, USA
Registered: 2009-11-09
Posts: 4,092
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Re: [solved] Looking for a simple YouTube video converter

Jodell wrote:

Handbrake

That's what I was gonna suggest! I use it to convert videos for my tablet.

What do you mean by minimal and lightweight? I think most video converters are just a frontend for ffmpeg. You only need to learn the optimal YouTube configuration for the crazy ffmpeg command line options once, and then you can just use that to convert your videos. smile

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#4 2012-11-28 21:39:42

orschiro
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Registered: 2009-06-04
Posts: 2,136
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Re: [solved] Looking for a simple YouTube video converter

Thanks for your suggestion guys. Handbrake looks promising and simple enough.

However, it does not have a predefined profile for YouTube. I guess I will have to  have a look in the optimal settings for YouTube.

Regards

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#5 2012-11-28 21:56:18

skanky
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From: WAIS
Registered: 2009-10-23
Posts: 1,847

Re: [solved] Looking for a simple YouTube video converter

A search for ffmpeg and youtube brings up a few things that might do the job,
This might be do the job? - http://shahidhussain.com/optimize-video … th-ffmpeg/


"...one cannot be angry when one looks at a penguin."  - John Ruskin
"Life in general is a bit shit, and so too is the internet. And that's all there is." - scepticisle

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#6 2012-12-01 00:19:05

DrZaius
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Registered: 2008-01-02
Posts: 193

Re: [solved] Looking for a simple YouTube video converter

drcouzelis wrote:

You only need to learn the optimal YouTube configuration for the crazy ffmpeg command line options once, and then you can just use that to convert your videos. smile

Since YouTube will re-encode anything you upload the best practice is to upload the original content. This isn't always practical of course, so you can re-encode it for a more manageable file size, but still high enough quality that it won't needlessly suffer when YouTube takes a dump on it. Here's an example that will work with ffmpeg from the repository,  ffmpeg-1:1.0-2:

ffmpeg -i input -c:v libx264 -crf 18 -preset slow -pix_fmt yuv420p -c:a copy output.mkv

The two options of interest are -crf and -preset. The basic methodology when using crf is to use the highest value that still gives you an acceptable quality and the slowest preset you have patience for. See  FFmpeg and x264 Encoding Guide for more information. This example will also simply copy the audio from the input to the output. If you want to re-encode the audio, such as if your input audio is uncompressed, replace "-c:a copy" with "-c:a libmp3lame -q:a 3" or "-c:a libvorbis -q:a 6" for a high-quality output.

skanky wrote:

A search for ffmpeg and youtube brings up a few things that might do the job,
This might be do the job? - http://shahidhussain.com/optimize-video … th-ffmpeg/

That is a terribly outdated example: it resizes the video to 320x240, changes the frame rate, and uses 800 bits/s for a video bitrate. That's bits, not kilobits!

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#7 2012-12-01 08:45:38

orschiro
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Registered: 2009-06-04
Posts: 2,136
Website

Re: [solved] Looking for a simple YouTube video converter

Hi DrZaius,

Thanks for your single line of code. That works very nice and is actually easier than using handbrake. The file ending should always be .mkv?

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#8 2012-12-01 09:34:17

skanky
Member
From: WAIS
Registered: 2009-10-23
Posts: 1,847

Re: [solved] Looking for a simple YouTube video converter

DrZaius wrote:
skanky wrote:

A search for ffmpeg and youtube brings up a few things that might do the job,
This might be do the job? - http://shahidhussain.com/optimize-video … th-ffmpeg/

That is a terribly outdated example: it resizes the video to 320x240, changes the frame rate, and uses 800 bits/s for a video bitrate. That's bits, not kilobits!

Fair enough, sorry.  I should have pointed out the caveat that I've never uploaded to youtube. wink


"...one cannot be angry when one looks at a penguin."  - John Ruskin
"Life in general is a bit shit, and so too is the internet. And that's all there is." - scepticisle

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#9 2012-12-01 12:16:51

Army
Member
Registered: 2007-12-07
Posts: 1,784

Re: [solved] Looking for a simple YouTube video converter

orschiro wrote:

Hi DrZaius,

Thanks for your single line of code. That works very nice and is actually easier than using handbrake. The file ending should always be .mkv?

mkv is a very good container, so you should use it whenever possible. Some outdated Players might not support mkv, but Youtube does, so yes, use it!

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#10 2012-12-01 12:42:42

orschiro
Member
Registered: 2009-06-04
Posts: 2,136
Website

Re: [solved] Looking for a simple YouTube video converter

Thanks Army. I created a custom alias that takes input and output name as arguments. Now I do not need to remember the cryptic code line.

This goes into bashrc.

# Convert videos for YouTube
youtubeConvert()
{
ffmpeg -i $1 -c:v libx264 -crf 18 -preset slow -pix_fmt yuv420p -c:a copy $2.mkv
}
alias ytconvert=youtubeConvert

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#11 2012-12-01 20:44:32

DrZaius
Member
Registered: 2008-01-02
Posts: 193

Re: [solved] Looking for a simple YouTube video converter

orschiro wrote:

Hi DrZaius,

Thanks for your single line of code. That works very nice and is actually easier than using handbrake. The file ending should always be .mkv?

In addition to what Army said, I chose mkv because it accepts a large number of formats. Since you are copying the audio, and your input audio formats may vary, a flexible output container format is recommended.

Last edited by DrZaius (2012-12-01 20:45:32)

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