Whenever you export, compress or upload a video, you run into the same three settings: bitrate, resolution and frame rate. They decide how good your video looks and how big the file is. Understanding them takes five minutes and saves a lot of trial and error.
Resolution: how many pixels
Resolution is the size of each frame, measured in pixels.
| Name | Pixels | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| 480p | 854 × 480 | Small previews, very slow connections |
| 720p (HD) | 1280 × 720 | Phones, chat apps, small embeds |
| 1080p (Full HD) | 1920 × 1080 | The everyday standard |
| 4K (UHD) | 3840 × 2160 | Big TVs, editing, archiving |
Higher resolution means more detail, but only if the screen and the bitrate can show it. A 4K video watched on a phone looks almost the same as 1080p, while the file is much bigger.
Vertical video simply flips the numbers: 1080 × 1920 is 1080p for Reels, TikTok and Shorts.
Frame rate: how many pictures per second
Video is a series of still images shown quickly. Frame rate (fps) is how many per second.
- 24 fps is the classic "cinema" look.
- 30 fps is standard for most phone video, vlogs and social media.
- 60 fps gives smooth motion for sports, gaming and fast action.
Doubling the frame rate means roughly doubling the information, so higher frame rates need more bitrate to look good. For talking, tutorials and most everyday clips, 30 fps is plenty.
Bitrate: how much data per second
Bitrate is the amount of data used to describe each second of video, usually measured in megabits per second (Mbps). It's the single biggest factor in both quality and file size.
- Too low for the content: the video turns blocky, blurry or smeared, especially in fast motion.
- Too high: no visible improvement, just a bigger file.
You can work out file size from bitrate:
File size (MB) ≈ bitrate (Mbps) × length (seconds) ÷ 8
So a 60-second video at 8 Mbps is about 60 MB. This is also how our size presets work: to fit a clip under Discord's 10 MB limit, the Discord compressor works backwards from the length to find the bitrate that fits.
How the three work together
The settings have to match. A high resolution with a low bitrate looks worse than a lower resolution with the same bitrate, because each pixel gets less data. That's why good compressors lower the resolution when the bitrate budget is tight. A clean 720p video beats a blocky 1080p one every time.
Content matters too. A static screen recording might look perfect at 1 Mbps, while a football match at the same resolution needs 8 Mbps or more.
Typical bitrates for H.264 video
These are sensible starting points for H.264 at 30 fps:
| Resolution | Everyday sharing | High quality |
|---|---|---|
| 720p | 2 to 4 Mbps | 5 Mbps |
| 1080p | 4 to 6 Mbps | 8 Mbps |
| 4K | 15 to 25 Mbps | 35 to 45 Mbps |
For 60 fps, add roughly 50%. Newer codecs like HEVC and AV1 can reach similar quality with less bitrate.
Constant quality vs constant bitrate
There are two ways an encoder can work:
- Constant bitrate uses the same amount of data every second, simple or complex. It's predictable but wasteful.
- Constant quality aims for a quality level and lets the bitrate change with the content: more for action scenes, less for still shots.
Our video compressor uses constant quality for its Smallest, Balanced and Best quality modes, and calculates a bitrate only when you need to hit a specific file size.
Which settings should you choose?
- Sending in chat apps: 720p, 30 fps. See the WhatsApp guide.
- Discord or email: use the size presets and let them choose.
- Keeping your own videos: 1080p, Balanced or Best quality.
- Uploading to social networks: 1080p at the platform's preferred frame rate. They re-compress anyway.
For practical step-by-step help, see how to make a video smaller without losing quality.