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Youtube changes to 960 pixel wide page and 16:9 wide screen video

by Josh Anderson
19 replies
Youtube announced and made the switch to 960 pixel wide page and 16:9 wide screen video format for displaying videos on their site:

YouTube Blog

Traditional 4:3 videos will continue to be displayed but in a wide player.
#16:3 #169 #960 #format #video #wide #wide screen #youtube
  • Profile picture of the author nair
    Oh wow, thanks for that catch. Will the original videos be stretched out to fit the player, or will there just be black space now?
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    • Profile picture of the author Josh Anderson
      Will the original videos be stretched out to fit the player, or will there just be black space now?
      Just black space.

      If YT stretched them they would look like crap and since all YT videos previous are 4:3 they won't do that.
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  • Profile picture of the author nair
    When are they going to apply this?
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  • Profile picture of the author Josh Anderson
    They already did. Its live now. All videos even 4:3 are showing in 16:9 wide screen players.
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  • Profile picture of the author milan
    What is the recommended width and height for a video now?
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    • Profile picture of the author Josh Anderson
      Originally Posted by milan View Post

      What is the recommended width and height for a video now?
      640x360 are the dimensions that YT will publish at. 1:1 is preferable for clearest screen capture if you are publishing it to YT.

      16:9 if you are shooting live motion.

      But you can continue to publish 4:3 or 480x360. The video will just have black space where the empty area is in the player.
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  • Profile picture of the author jnapier
    Interesting stuff. Now I've got widescreen video, shot in small screen. Could be a good opportunity to buy a widescreen video camera...does that even exist?

    Jay NaPier
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    • Profile picture of the author Peter Helps
      Originally Posted by jnapier View Post

      Interesting stuff. Now I've got widescreen video, shot in small screen. Could be a good opportunity to buy a widescreen video camera...does that even exist?

      Jay NaPier
      Don't quote me on it, and I think Josh will have a better answer, but I think you just have a regular video camera (digital camera) and they you buy a widescreen lens attachment.

      Peter
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      • Profile picture of the author adamv
        Originally Posted by pk80356 View Post

        Don't quote me on it, and I think Josh will have a better answer, but I think you just have a regular video camera (digital camera) and they you buy a widescreen lens attachment.

        Peter
        On my video camera I don't need any special lens. I can use the menu to select weather I want to record in 4:3 or in 16:9 format. I'm pretty sure any video camera you buy these days will have that option. If you're shooting with a video camera from the 1980's you may be out of luck.
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  • Profile picture of the author Gaby10
    Thanks for the info. I was getting an unknown error today in YouTube, this explains it.

    Fortunately my videos are being produced in 16:9!

    Jay NaPier: yes, those cameras are everywhere these days. And they are not expensive at all -same as a "normal" camera a few years ago-.

    Gaby
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  • Profile picture of the author BeInProfitMode
    Ha, good call. I thought my videos looked a little funny this morning. hehe
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  • Profile picture of the author Ephrils
    I noticed this just today.

    Now ALL their videos look out of sync :p
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    • Profile picture of the author FrankRumbauskas
      Sweet!!! My pro HD camera doesn't give me any other choice and it's a pain getting them to show up correctly on YouTube, this is a lifesaver!!
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  • Profile picture of the author Gaby10
    I've noticed that many old 4:3 videos are not being resized on fullscreen mode. Which is OK.

    BTW,
    BlogBrowser: I think we'll have a bunch of little new products coming because of this change.

    Here's the idea: If the size is too wide for a blog, then a new YouTube Video Flash player product could allow the Blogmaster or Webmaster to crop the 16:9 videos into a suitable 4:3 ratio.

    Benefits: You upload your video only once, so you save time and avoid losing view count.
    (Because if you upload two versions the total view counts will be divided).

    Hmm.. I think I'm going to create a player using the YouTube Api and C++, it is not big deal for a good programmer.

    Gaby
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  • Profile picture of the author Josh Anderson
    640x360 is too wide for embedding on blogs
    It really is not that big a deal. This does not effect embedding at all if you are embedding your own 4:3 videos with YT. Just adjust the player dimensions.

    In fact to correctly embed a youtube video at the you already have to change the player dimensions as youtube has never had the correct dimensions to match the true dimensions of their videos in their embed code.
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  • Profile picture of the author Josh Anderson
    Don't quote me on it, and I think Josh will have a better answer, but I think you just have a regular video camera (digital camera) and they you buy a widescreen lens attachment.

    Peter
    Actually that's not quite right. Wide Angle lenses have no impact on the actual video ratio.

    Most higher quality digital video cameras will have standard and 16:9 options.

    So even many standard non HD cameras can film in 16:9 my Canon GL2 does for example.

    But don't worry if you do not have 16:9 as mentioned standard 4:3 videos will still display just fine on youtube. Most people in the world do not shoot in 16:9 which is why the switch at YT is a bit odd.

    However, 16:9 videos won't look so hot embedded in this forum ;-)
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  • Profile picture of the author Internet Stores
    Yes...I was just over at YT and I've noticed the new format. Thanks for bringing this out for us!
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  • Profile picture of the author AlexKaplo
    Yeah I discovered this yesterday day!

    Moving from4:3 to 16:9 is a really good move on youtube's part!
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  • Profile picture of the author Scott Lundergan
    Like Frank R mentioned above, those who are shooting with 1080i across the board will enjoy this.

    The Youtube blog comments seem to be right down the middle...

    "I can't believe this, you guys suck...my videos look horrible now!!"
    "I'm so glad you guys did this, you guys rule...my videos look great now!"

    I can see the blog comments are very valid on both sides with the settings, the way it looks, etc.
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