Uploading movies

I want to upload recordings to youtube (while retaining as much quality as poss) but haven't done so in years. I used to do it via windows movie maker.

I would really like some advice on what to use to compress files before uploading. Could you state if it is paid or free.. ty :)

If you want MiRai style videos where you're recording everything at 4K and rendering and publishing at that rate, you'll want something along the professional line like Adobe Premiere, etc. You may be able to get away with some others, but I wouldn't waste my time.

If you want to just capture 1080 locally and publish that, it may depend on *how* you're recording. Native settings via something like OBS or a similar tool would probably get your recordings done well, but you still need a post processing application to compress your (likely large filesize video) to something smaller. If you want to start small I'd give https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/wind...o-movie-editor a spin, it's the current generation of Windows Movie Maker app.

As Svpernova said, it's all about what you're looking to do.

I'll point out that Davinci Resolve is a pretty fantastic free NLE that allows up to 4k video exporting. Some limitations do apply to the free version, but for casual youtube stuff it should work just fine if you ask me. Premiere and even Sony Vegas are fantastic solutions as well, but unless you're very serious about your video work, or can get a discounted version through school or work, it's pretty hard to justify shelling out the needed cash...

As far as compression, most editing programs do a "good enough" job at compressing your video, or allow lossless exports if you really want to go that route. I'm fairly certain WMM does not have such functionality though. Youtube does it's own conversion and compression anyways, so whether you throw a perfectly crisp lossless video at it might not guarantee that it stays that way for public viewing... I really wish Stage6 was still a thing... Sigh...

Thanks very much for your answers.

I have fraps for recording.. so would be 1080