When posting videos on Facebook, you want them to look crisp, clear, and professional. The video quality on Facebook can make a big difference in how engaging your videos are for your audience. In this article, I’ll explain why video quality matters on Facebook and how to change the resolution, FPS (frames per second), bitrate, and other settings to get the best quality possible for your Facebook videos.
Why Video Quality Matters on Facebook
Here are some of the key reasons why having high quality videos on Facebook is important:
- Improves engagement – Higher resolution, smoother videos tend to get more views, comments, and shares.
- Looks more professional – Pixelated or blurry videos look amateurish.
- Shows off your product/service – For businesses, a high quality video better presents what you’re selling.
- Is more immersive – Higher FPS and bitrate make the video feel more real.
- Adapts to various device screens – Different viewers watch on phones, laptops, tablets, and TVs.
- Enhances your brand – Low quality reflects poorly on you.
In summary, better video quality keeps viewers watching longer, engaging more, and thinking more highly of your brand.
How Facebook Video Quality Works
When you upload a video to Facebook, it is encoded and processed to create different quality versions to send to viewers based on their device, bandwidth, and settings.
The original video you upload is called the source file. Facebook will take that source file and create transcoded versions in different resolutions and bitrates.
Resolution refers to the number of horizontal and vertical pixels in the video. Common examples are 480p, 720p, 1080p, 4K. The more pixels, the sharper and clearer the image.
Bitrate is the amount of data used per second of video, measured in kbps (kilobits per second). A higher bitrate allows for higher quality, but also means bigger file sizes.
Frame rate (FPS) is the number of still image frames shown per second to create the illusion of motion. More FPS makes the video smoother. Common frame rates are 24, 30, 60 FPS.
When you upload your video source file to Facebook, you want it to be the maximum resolution, bitrate, and FPS that you have available to you. That will ensure that Facebook has a high quality source file to work with to create the transcoded versions.
Uploading High Quality Videos to Facebook
Here are some tips for making sure you upload high quality videos to Facebook:
- Record your video in the best quality settings possible – Use HD, 4K, or the highest res your camera/phone allows.
- Render your video at 1080p (or higher) resolution in your editing program.
- Export your video using high bitrate/quality settings in the encoder.
- Use two-pass video encoding for better quality vs. file size.
- Use variable bitrate encoding rather than constant bitrate.
- Upload the direct output file from your video editor rather than compressing further.
- Use recommended codecs like H.264 or H.265 which Facebook supports.
- Pick MP4 or MOV format for the source video file.
Following those guidelines will ensure you upload to Facebook with minimal quality loss or compression artifacts.
How to Check and Change Video Quality on Facebook
When your video finishes uploading to Facebook, you can check and change the quality settings:
- Click on your video post after it’s uploaded.
- Click on the downward carrot in the top right corner.
- Select “Edit Video” from the dropdown menu.
- Click on “Quality and visibility” on the left menu.
- You can see and change the resolution, sound, visibility, and allow embedding.
- Click “Save” to update the settings.
This allows you to adjust the video quality to ensure it looks great for your viewers. You can select up to 1080p HD resolution.
Facebook Recommended Upload Encoding
For the best quality, Facebook recommends uploading your video files using these encoding settings:
- File Format: MP4 or MOV
- Video Codec: H.264
- Audio Codec: AAC
- Resolution: At least 720P HD (1080p preferred)
- Bitrate: 4-5 Mbps
- Frame Rate: 30 FPS
Using those advanced encoding settings when you export your video will maximize quality. The higher resolution 1080p and bitrate in the 5-10 Mbps range is preferable.
Recommended Bitrates Based on Resolution
Here are the video bitrate recommendations from Facebook for different resolutions:
| Resolution | Bitrate Range |
| 240p | 400-800 kbps |
| 360p | 600-1000 kbps |
| 480p | 1200-1800 kbps |
| 720p | 2500-4000 kbps |
| 1080p | 4000-6000 kbps |
As you can see, 720p HD should have a bitrate around 3-4 Mbps, and 1080p needs 4-6 Mbps for the best quality on Facebook.
Choosing Video Codecs for Facebook
The video codec you select to encode your video will impact quality and file size. Facebook supports H.264 and H.265 codecs. Here is how they compare:
- H.264 – Widely supported, good compression, standard for HD video.
- H.265 (HEVC) – Newer, more efficient compression. Half the bitrate of H.264 at same quality.
- VP9 – Open source codec created by Google. Competes with H.265.
H.265 HEVC is the most advanced codec, providing great quality at lower bitrates. But it has less browser support currently than H.264. VP9 has good browser support but lower quality per bitrate than H.265.
For Facebook, your best bet is likely sticking with H.264 video encoding for maximum compatibility across devices. Make sure to use the High Profile 5.1 preset.
How to Adjust Video Resolution
If you need to adjust the resolution of a video before uploading to Facebook, here are some tips:
- Use video editing software like Final Cut Pro, Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve.
- Resize/scale the video clips to the desired resolution.
- Render out a new master file at that target resolution.
- Use the best scaling algorithm like Lanczos to minimize loss of quality.
- Be careful not to upscale low res video excessively.
- Double check file metadata for correct resolution.
Converting 4K or 1080p video down to 720p or lower resolutions can help reduce file sizes while maintaining quality if bandwidth is limited.
How to Change Video File Size
In addition to resolution, the video bitrate also greatly impacts the final file size. Here are tips for adjusting video file size by changing the bitrate:
- Use two-pass video encoding for better optimization.
- Lower the target bitrate to reduce file size.
- Set a maximum bitrate ceiling like 8000 kbps.
- Allow variable bitrate to shift within that ceiling.
- Lower bitrates more for SD, higher for HD resolutions.
- Aim for constant visual quality across full video timeline.
Variable bitrate encoding maintains quality while allowing the bitrate to fluxuate based on complexity of each scene.
How to Improve Video Quality
If your video quality is lower than desired, here are tips for improving it:
- Record source video at highest resolution possible.
- Clean camera lens and sensors to reduce dirt/noise.
- Use optimal exposure, lighting, and focus settings.
- Choose high quality editing software.
- Avoid over-compressing final exported video files.
- Remove noise, grain, artifacts in post-production.
- Add slight video sharpening.
- Increase bitrate setting on export.
Capturing pristine video sources and using high-end post-production will maximize your final video quality.
Facebook Video Optimization Best Practices
Here are some top tips for optimized video quality and performance on Facebook:
- Film in landscape not portrait orientation.
- Use HD or 4K resolution for sources.
- Pick MP4 or MOV for source files.
- Export at 1080p (or original source resolution).
- Encode with H.264 codec at High Profile.
- Consider H.265 HEVC for smaller files.
- Set bitrate between 3-6 Mbps at 1080p.
- Use 30 FPS frame rate.
- Include both video and audio in source.
- Use two-pass variable bitrate encoding.
- Upload source direct from video editor.
- Check video after upload for quality.
Following those best practices will help you upload great looking, professional quality videos to Facebook optimized for their platform requirements.
Troubleshooting Facebook Video Quality Issues
If your videos on Facebook have quality issues like being blurry or pixelated, here are some troubleshooting tips:
- Check original uploaded source file settings.
- Try re-encoding source at higher bitrate/resolution.
- Ensure proper sharpening, noise reduction is applied.
- Double check upload fails didn’t cause issues.
- Test video in HD quality setting on Facebook.
- Try different encoding software/settings.
- Clear browser cache and retest video.
- Try video on different devices/browsers.
- Contact Facebook support if needed.
Going through these debugging steps methodically can help resolve any problems with poor video quality on Facebook.
Conclusion
Optimizing your video quality on Facebook requires uploading the best source file possible, choosing the ideal encoding settings, and verifying the results after uploading. Use the tips in this article to troubleshoot issues, configure the highest resolution, bitrate, codecs, and other settings to deliver a pristine, professional viewing experience. Crisp, clear video will keep your audience watching and improve perceptions of your brand.