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EXPORT & DELIVERY BLOG / 8 MIN READ

What bitrate should I export my video at?

Bitrate decides how much of your detail survives compression. Here are the numbers to hit for 1080p and 4K on YouTube, TikTok and Reels, and why exporting with headroom is the difference between sharp and smeary after upload.

Check your export automatically Jump to the numbers
16 Mbps1080p baseline
45 Mbps4K at 30 fps
H.264safe codec
VBRtwo-pass, please

By Thomas, founder of CutScore · Updated June 2026

EXPORT CHECK · final_1080p.mp4
A video playing across a television and a phone at the same time, the kind of mixed-screen viewing your export bitrate has to survive once a platform has re-compressed the file.
CRAFT SCORE
FIXES ADVISED
what the platform receives, not your drive
Bitrate too low · 9 Mbps, raise to ~16file
Codec fine · H.264 high profile✓
Resolution matches · 1920×1080✓
The 30-second answer For 1080p at 30 fps, export at around 16 Mbps for normal footage, or 24 Mbps if it is busy or fast-moving. For 1080p at 60 fps, use about 24 Mbps. For 4K at 30 fps, aim for 45 to 50 Mbps, and for 4K at 60 fps go to 70 to 80 Mbps. Use H.264 or H.265, pick the highest-quality preset, and choose VBR (ideally two-pass) with that number as the average. The reason these are floors, not ceilings: every platform re-compresses your file after you upload, so you want enough headroom that the second squeeze still looks clean. If you would rather have it checked for you, that is part of what CutScore does in one pass.
WHY THIS QUESTION IS A TRAP

Bitrate is the amount of data your video spends per second, usually measured in megabits (Mbps). More data means more detail survives: cleaner motion, fewer blocky shadows, smoother gradients in a sky. Lower bitrate means the encoder starts throwing detail away to fit the file into a smaller box. So far, so simple. The trap is thinking the number you export at is the number the viewer gets.

It is not. The first time I learned this I exported a vlog at a heroic 80 Mbps, felt very professional about it, uploaded it, and watched YouTube hand it back to a viewer at a fraction of that. Every platform re-encodes your file to its own bitrate ladder, and that ladder is almost always lower than what you exported. Your beautiful 80 Mbps master is just the raw material the platform chews up. What you control is the quality of the meal you hand it.

That changes the whole game. You are not exporting for the viewer. You are exporting for the platform's compressor, and your job is to give it a clean, generous source so its squeeze does the least damage. Too low a bitrate and you are stacking compression on top of compression, which is where the smear and blockiness come from. The targets below give the encoder room to work.

THE NUMBERS

What bitrate to export your video at, by resolution.

These are sensible upload targets, the kind YouTube itself recommends as a floor for SDR uploads. Use the higher end of each range for fast motion, fine grain, screen recordings of small text, or anything with lots of gradient.

Resolution & frame rateTarget bitrate (upload)When to push higher
1080p · 24 / 30 fps≈ 16 MbpsBump to 24 Mbps for sport, gaming, dense screen capture or heavy grain.
1080p · 50 / 60 fps≈ 24 MbpsMore frames need more data; thin bitrate here shows as motion smear.
1440p · 30 fps≈ 24 MbpsPush toward 30 Mbps if there is a lot of fine texture or fast pans.
4K (2160p) · 24 / 30 fps45 to 50 MbpsDetailed landscapes and tight text benefit from the top of the range.
4K (2160p) · 50 / 60 fps70 to 80 MbpsHigh motion at 4K is the hungriest case; do not starve it.
Vertical (1080×1920) · 30 fps≈ 16 MbpsSame pixel budget as 1080p; Reels and TikTok re-compress hard, so keep headroom.
A note on codecsIf you export with H.265 (HEVC) or AV1 instead of H.264, you can hit similar quality at roughly 30 to 50 percent lower bitrate, because they compress more efficiently. H.264 stays the safest universal choice for uploading. The targets above assume H.264; with H.265 you can comfortably sit at the lower end of each range.
NOT SURE YOUR EXPORT LANDED?

CutScore reads the actual bitrate, codec and resolution of your file and tells you whether it is ready for the platform you are posting to, with the rest of the craft checks alongside it.

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THE SETTINGS THAT ACTUALLY MATTER

Bitrate is one dial of four.

Should I use VBR or CBR?

Use VBR, and if your editor offers it, two-pass VBR. CBR (constant bitrate) spends the same data on a static talking head as it does on an explosion, which is wasteful on the easy shots and stingy on the hard ones. VBR (variable bitrate) lets the encoder spend more where the picture is complex and less where it is simple, so you get better quality for the same average file size. Set your target number from the table as the average, and let the maximum run a little higher. CBR is mostly for live streaming, where a steady, predictable data rate matters more than squeezing out efficiency.

A laptop showing a graph of rising and falling lines, standing in for the variable-bitrate curve that spends more data on complex shots and less on simple ones during an export.
VBR spends data where the picture is hard and saves it where the picture is easy. Photo: ThisIsEngineering / Pexels.

Which codec: H.264, H.265 or AV1?

For uploading, H.264 is still the boring correct answer. It plays everywhere, every platform ingests it cleanly, and at the bitrates above it looks great. H.265 (HEVC) and AV1 are more efficient, meaning similar quality at a lower bitrate, but they encode slower and not every workflow handles them smoothly. If your editor exports H.265 without drama and your platform accepts it, you can drop to the bottom of each bitrate range. When in doubt, ship H.264 high profile and stop second-guessing.

Does a higher bitrate always look better?

No, and this is where people waste hours. Bitrate has diminishing returns. Going from 4 Mbps to 16 Mbps on a 1080p clip is night and day. Going from 24 Mbps to 100 Mbps is almost invisible, especially after the platform re-encodes it down anyway. The goal is enough headroom, not maximum file size. A 600 MB export does not beat a 120 MB export if both are above the quality threshold; it just takes longer to upload. Hit the target, give yourself a little margin for busy footage, and move on.

What else has to match besides bitrate?

Bitrate is not a solo act. Your resolution and frame rate have to match what you actually shot and what the platform wants, your colour has to be exported in the right range (Rec. 709 for standard uploads), and your audio still needs to land near −14 LUFS with a true peak at or below −1 dBTP. A perfect bitrate cannot rescue a file exported at the wrong resolution or a video that is too quiet. Export is a small checklist, and bitrate is just the dial people ask about most.

RATHER SEE IT THAN READ IT?

Here is a real CutScore report for an everyday vlog, including the export checks: bitrate, codec, resolution and frame rate, scored with the exact fixes.

See a sample report
PER PLATFORM

YouTube, TikTok and Reels, in plain numbers.

The targets barely change between platforms, because they all re-compress your upload anyway. The rule is the same everywhere: hand them a generous H.264 file at the right resolution.

1
YOUTUBE16:9
YouTube: 16 Mbps at 1080p, 45 Mbps at 4K
YouTube publishes recommended upload bitrates and these are roughly them for SDR: about 8 Mbps at 1080p30 as the bare minimum, 16 Mbps if you want headroom, and 35 to 45 Mbps at 4K30. Upload higher than the floor, because YouTube re-encodes everything down its own ladder.
How Export H.264 high profile, VBR two-pass, 1080p or 2160p, then watch the published version, not the file. More in the best export settings for YouTube.
2
TIKTOK9:16
TikTok: 1080×1920, around 16 Mbps
TikTok compresses uploads aggressively, so a thin export gets mangled. Send it a full 1080×1920 vertical file at roughly 16 Mbps, H.264, and let the app do its worst from a clean source. Exporting straight from the app at low quality is the fastest way to soft, blocky footage.
How Export the finished video at 1080×1920 from your editor and upload that file, not a re-recorded screen capture.
3
REELS9:16
Instagram Reels: same vertical target, healthy bitrate
Reels behaves like TikTok: 1080×1920, H.264, and a generous bitrate around 16 Mbps so the platform's compression starts from something clean. Instagram is notorious for softening uploads, which makes export headroom matter even more here than on YouTube.
How Match the 9:16 frame, keep bitrate healthy, and check the posted Reel on a phone, not the preview. See why video looks worse after upload.
THREE WAYS TO GET IT RIGHT

Guess, read the file, or check in one pass.

OPTION 01

Use a known-good preset

Most editors ship a "YouTube 1080p" or "high quality" preset that lands near the targets above. It is the fastest route and usually fine. The catch is presets drift, get edited, or quietly export at the wrong frame rate, so it pays to confirm what actually came out the other end.

OPTION 02

Read the exported file

Open the finished file in a tool that reports its real bitrate, codec, resolution and frame rate. Accurate and honest. The cost is knowing the targets and reading the numbers correctly for every export. Great if you like detail. Most people would rather be editing.

OPTION 03

Let a coach check it

Hand the file (or a link) to CutScore. It reads your real export settings against the right platform spec, flags a thin bitrate or wrong resolution, and folds that into a 0 to 100 craft score with the fixes. See a sample report.

How CutScore checks your export for you CutScore is an AI video quality coach for pre-publish QC. It reads your file's real bitrate, codec, resolution and frame rate deterministically, compares them to the right target for your platform, and tells you if your export is too thin to survive compression, all alongside loudness, exposure, pacing and the rest. You get one score, the evidence behind it, and a prioritised list of fixes before anyone watches. It judges the craft of the video, not your tags or thumbnails, so it sits next to a growth tool rather than replacing one. More on the method and the standards.
Get your export checked automatically See everything we check
KEEP READING
Best export settings for YouTube Why video looks worse after upload What frame rate to use The 13 families we measure A full sample report
QUESTIONS

Frequently asked.

For 1080p at 30 fps, export around 16 Mbps for standard footage and 24 Mbps if it is busy or fast-moving. For 1080p at 60 fps use roughly 24 Mbps. For 4K at 30 fps aim for 45 to 50 Mbps, and for 4K at 60 fps around 70 to 80 Mbps. Use H.264 or H.265, the highest quality preset, and do not go below these numbers, because every platform re-compresses your file again after you upload.
Up to a point, yes. A higher bitrate keeps more detail through compression, which matters most for fast motion, grain and gradients. But past a sensible target the gains shrink fast while the file size balloons. Exporting a 1080p clip at 100 Mbps will not look better than 24 Mbps once the platform has re-encoded it, so aim for enough headroom and stop there.
Because the platform re-compresses your file to its own bitrate, which is usually much lower than what you exported. If your export was already thin on bitrate, that second squeeze pushes it into blocky, smeary territory. Exporting with healthy bitrate headroom gives the platform a cleaner source to compress from, so the published version holds up better.
CBR holds the bitrate constant for the whole video. VBR lets it rise on complex shots and drop on simple ones, so you get better quality for the same average file size. For uploading, use VBR (often two-pass) with your target as the average. CBR is mostly useful for live streaming where a steady data rate matters more than efficiency.
EARLY ACCESS

Stop guessing at your export.

CutScore reads your real bitrate, codec and resolution, tells you if your export will survive the platform's compression, and folds it into the full craft score. Join the waitlist for early access.

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