How to Compress 4K to 1080p for YouTube

Is 4K Always Necessary?

Filming in 4K is great for editing (you can crop in without losing quality), but uploading 4K is often unnecessary. Statistics show that over 70% of YouTube watch time happens on mobile devices, where 4K pixels are physically impossible to see.

The Upload Bottleneck

A 10-minute 4K vlog can easily be 10GB. If you have slow upload speeds, this could take 5 hours to upload to YouTube. Downscaling that to a high-quality 1080p file might reduce it to 1GB, taking only 30 minutes.

How to Downscale Correctly

1. Master File: Always keep your original 4K file on your hard drive as a Master.
2. The Proxy/Upload Copy: Use VideoLite to create a 1080p version for YouTube.

Unless you are a cinematic travel vlogger or tech reviewer where pixel-peeping counts, 1080p is still the gold standard for content consumption.