Youtube VP9 Codec and 1080p

[Leyo]

Hi, i wouldn't post this if i wasn't desperate, so youtube is doing something really strange, every video i upload in 1080p gets the AVC1 codec and not the VP09 codec, which means it looks really bad (despite it looking sharp on my PC before upload) , i tried upscaling my videos to 1440p, and they do look good now, but only when viewed in 1440p on youtube, the 1080p version of the same video looks bad if not worse than before

 

the same applies when i upscale to 4k

 

obviously i would have to record with OBS in 1440p or 4K and downscale, but still, that makes my videos laggy because my monitor is 1080p and OBS produces lag when recording in scaled resolutions and this still doesn't solve the upload issue, so i would have to get a 1440p or 4K monitor and record in these resolutions and render with them too, so i have to spend money, and more time rendereing, and more space needed for these larger videos, so again, more money for storage

 

why is youtube doing this? i honestly tried for days and days to troubleshoot this issue, tried multiple bitrates while recording and while rendering (rendering upscaled and non upscaled) i searched through reddit, youtube videos, and everywhere for help, but i can't discern the signal from the noise, alot of conflicted info out there and everything i tried didn't work (multiple bitrate combinations)

 

i'm sending this message because i know that you guys at LMG & LTT have an excellent way of testing and gathering reliable info, and i'm sure many people are facing this issue, so if you guys can make a video explaining why is youtube doing this and how to get around it, then that would be very helpful

 

and anyone here reading this, if you can help then olease do, this issue is affecting many many people

 

again, to summerize, youtube displays 1080p videos in bad quality and gives them a bad codec (AVC1), the solution is to upscale from 1080p to 1440p or 4k before upload to get the good codec (VP09), but then the video can only be viewed in 1440p or 4K in good quality, while on 1080p it still looks bad, the good codec (VP09 or VP9) is only given to the 1440p or 4K version of the video, while the 1080p version is screwed

 

all the resolutions mentioned above are in 60FPS

 

and i have seen people upload 1440p videos just to get the good codec, and it applies to both the 1440p & 1080p versions of the same video, so this solution (upscaling before upload) seems to work for them, and it did work for me but like i said only when viewing the 1440p or 4K versions, i can't get the 1080p version to be displayed in the VP9 codec.

[LAwLz]

Got a link so I can check? 

YouTube converts all videos to AVC as well as several other formats, even when you upload 1440p. My guess is that, for some reason, YouTube serves you the AVC video when you view it at 1080p. 

So it's not an upload or transcode issue. It's a playback issue. 

[Moonzy]

here's my investigation on it

 

@LAwLz might be interested in it as well

 

long story short, only youtuber with lots of views gets VP09, small creators gets the poopoo AVC

unless if you upload in 1440p

 

for uploading 1440p, it'll first process SD version (AVC, up to 1080p), VP09 will take slightly longer time to process, up to few hours sometimes.

so your video will be available in 1080p AVC for a while before it's available in VP09, and after it's VP09, it's VP09 for all res from my experience

[Leyo]

Yes, it gives me AVC on the 1080p version, but VP9 for the 1440p version and above, the stats for nerds is showing VP9 however

 

here is a test video i uploaded in 4K:

https://youtu.be/lrh8TDm0K-s

 

and here is one in 1440p:

 

[Leyo]

16 minutes ago, Moonzy said:

here's my investigation on it

 

@LAwLz might be interested in it as well

 

long story short, only youtuber with lots of views gets VP09, small creators gets the poopoo AVC

unless if you upload in 1440p

yes, but i'm seeing "not-so-lots-of-views youtubers" do the upscale trick and both versions (1440p & 1080p) look good on their channel, and they don't specify what are they doing different, they just say upscale to 1440p

[Moonzy]

2 minutes ago, Leyo said:

yes, but i'm seeing "not so lots if views youtubers" do the upscale trick snd both version (1440p & 1080p) look good on their channel, and they don't specify what are they doijg different, they just say upscale to 1440p

exactly, you just upscale it to 1440p and upload, you'll get VP09

 

12 minutes ago, Moonzy said:

for uploading 1440p, it'll first process SD version (AVC, up to 1080p), VP09 will take slightly longer time to process, up to few hours sometimes.

so your video will be available in 1080p AVC for a while before it's available in VP09, and after it's VP09, it's VP09 for all res from my experience

 

[Leyo]

14 minutes ago, Moonzy said:

minutes

 

14 minutes ago, Moonzy said:

for uploading 1440p, it'll first process SD version (AVC, up to 1080p), VP09 will take slightly longer time to process, up to few hours sometimes.

so your video will be available in 1080p AVC for a while before it's available in VP09, and after it's VP09, it's VP09 for all res from my experience

Alright so after upload, i got the AVC1 1080p60, that was the SD version, and the video says "Processing HD version" so i waited hours long , and it finished processing and gave me the 1440p60 version, and the codec changed to VP09, but the 1080p60 version still looks bad, check the links above please, and yes i did upscale and got good quality but only if i view the video in 1440p or above, i need the 1080p version to look good as well 

[Leyo]

39 minutes ago, LAwLz said:

So it's not an upload or transcode issue. It's a playback issue. 

Hoping that it's a playback issue @LAwLz

[Moonzy]

2 minutes ago, Leyo said:

Alright so after upload, i got the AVC1 1080p60, that was the SD version, and the video says "Processing HD version" so i waited hours long , and it finished processing and gave me the 1440p60 version, and the codec changed to VP09, but the 1080p60 version still looks bad, check the links above please, and yes i did upscale and got good quality but only if i view the video in 1440p or above, i need the 1080p version to look good as well 

i get VP09

[Leyo]

1 minute ago, Moonzy said:

4 minutes ago, Leyo said:

Alright so after upload, i got the AVC1 1080p60, that was the SD version, and the video says "Processing HD version" so i waited hours long , and it finished processing and gave me the 1440p60 version, and the codec changed to VP09, but the 1080p60 version still looks bad, check the links above please, and yes i did upscale and got good quality but only if i view the video in 1440p or above, i need the 1080p version to look good as well 

Expand  

i get VP09

me too, but the 1080p60 version looks alot worse than the 1440p60 version, that is the issue

 

wrong Bitrate?

wrong Transcode?

issue with playback?

 

@Moonzy

[Moonzy]

3 minutes ago, Leyo said:

me too, but the 1080p60 version looks alot worse than the 1440p60 version, that is the issue

 

wrong Bitrate?

wrong Transcode?

issue with playback?

 

@Moonzy

1080p

 

1440p (on my 1080p display)

 

mmm... cant really tell much diff since no fast moving elements or smth

color is slightly diff tho, but i cant tell on my (currently using) craptastic display

[Leyo]

9 minutes ago, Moonzy said:

mmm... cant really tell much diff since no fast moving elements or smth

color is slightly diff tho, but i cant tell on my (currently using) craptastic display

Yeah on my phone's small screen they both look good, but on my Monitor they are different in color, and a still image doesn't show the problem, the moving video does, because i have rhe original files on my PC (the 1080p and the upscaled 1440p) so i know that the 1080p version looks worse (in youtube), way worse, and i'm trying to figure out why

[Moonzy]

2 minutes ago, Leyo said:

Yeah on my phone's small screen they both look good, but on my Monitor they are different in color, and a still image doesn't show the problem, the moving video does, because i have rhe original files on my PC (the 1080p and the upscaled 1440p) so i know that the 1080p version looks worse (in youtube), way worse, and i'm trying to figure out why

you do know that youtube compress the video to all heck right? so comparing it to your source file is moot point

 

im talking my 2h stream at 8000kbps (file size prob over 50gb or smth)

to about 200mb when i dl-ed it

[Leyo]

8 minutes ago, Moonzy said:

you do know that youtube compress the video to all heck right? so comparing it to your source file is moot point

oh yeah i know, that is why i'm asking, how the hell do other youtubers get a good quality on 1080p? they proved that it is possible, i'm not saying i want quality as good as the original video i have on PC, but at least let it be as decent at the 1440p version or close

 

when i upload the 1080p version without upscaling, it looks the same as the 1080p version of the upscaled video

 

as if the upscaling did nothing at all, and the 1440p version looks closer ro the 1080p version file on my PC

 

got me? as if the AVC codec 1080p version and the VP09 codec 1080p versions both look the same

 

i tried more bitrate and less bitrate

 

both in recording and in rendering

 

same result

[Moonzy]

Just now, Leyo said:

oh yeah i know, that is why i'm asking, how the hell do other yohtubers get a good quality on 1080p? i'm not saying i want as good as the original video i have on PC, but at least let it be as decent at the 1440p version or close

 

when i upload the 1080p version without upscaling, it looks the same as the 1080p version of the upscaled video

 

as if the upscaling did nothing at all, and the 1440p version looks closer ro the 1080p version file on my PC

 

got me? as if the AVC codec 1080p version and the VP09 codec 1080p versions both look the same

 

i tried more bitrate and less bitrate

 

both in recording and in rendering

 

same result

this is likely controlled by youtube and is not something we can control

what we can do is put less of the affected footage in youtube

 

i've seen good youtuber videos (well over 1M sub) with compression artifacts too, it's not too uncommon

[Leyo]

1 minute ago, Moonzy said:

i've seen good youtuber videos (well over 1M sub) with compression artifacts too, it's not too uncommon

alright well i very much appreciate the help

 

in the mean time i'll stick to upscaling to 1440p, and hoping that someone with a good ubderstaning of rendering and bitrates might offer a real solution

 

or better yet i hope Linus makes a detailed video about this issue on the LTT channel (unlikely but might be)