Let’s say that you need to convert a video from one format to another (e.g., for playback compatibility) or scale down the resolution to reduce the file size. There are video converters that you can buy for both Mac and Windows platforms to get the job done. You could also load the video into a video editor (e.g., iMovie or Final Cut Pro for Mac; various options on Windows) and then export with the desired format and resolution.
However, did you know that there is an unconventional option that also works pretty well and is completely free? All you have to do is upload the video to YouTube (free) and download it with 4K Video Downloader (also free). Let’s discuss these 2 steps in more detail.
Step 1: Upload the video to YouTube. Every video that is uploaded to YouTube is automatically processed upon completion of the upload. During processing, YouTube compresses the video and creates multiple versions of the video in different resolutions (e.g., 360p, 480p, 720p, 1080p, and 4K). This is because depending on the device and bandwidth, YouTube selects the best possible resolution to provide the viewer with an uninterrupted video stream. The YouTube System Requirements help page provides recommended sustained internet speeds for each video resolution. In my experience, the processing occurs rather quickly, with 360p and 480p versions most readily available, and higher resolutions taking several minutes or even hours, depending on the length of the video. Some users have reported extended delays, but generally the process is fairly quick. YouTube will not create a video in a resolution that is higher than the original video, but it will create a compressed version of the video at the same resolution. For example, if you upload a 1080p video that is 100 MB, after YouTube compression, the processed 1080p file might be only 50 MB—this obviously cuts down on bandwidth requirements. So essentially YouTube is doing the video compression and conversion for you with every upload.
Step 2: Download the video from YouTube. Now that there are multiple versions of your video on YouTube servers, all you need to do is download the one you want. I’ve previously discussed some of the benefits of 4K Video Downloader which is my go-to choice for downloading YouTube videos, so I’ll discuss this in a little more detail (but note that there may be other applications that work equally well). Simply paste the YouTube video link into 4K Video Downloader. If you have Smart Mode enabled, the app will download the video in the format and quality that you specify. If you disable Smart Mode, you’ll be presented with choices such as these:
Note that there are versions for different resolutions as well as video formats. And if your video was created in a high frame rates (e.g., 60 fps), you may see options for lower frame rates as well. Simply pick the video that you want, and in a few moments you’ll have your converted video. Viola!
Note that YouTube does provide recommended upload encoding settings which include an MP4 container, AAC audio codec, H.264 video codec, a common frame rate (e.g., 24, 25, 30, 48, 50, or 60 fps), a 16:9 aspect ratio, and various recommended bitrates. However, it is capable of handling a wide spectrum of other encodings beyond these recommendations. For example, I just converted a video using the approach described above, and here are the before-and-after encodings as displayed in VLC media player:
As you can see, YouTube converted Apple ProRes 422 Standard to H.264 and preserved the 1280x720 resolution and 30 fps frame rate. I have not seen an official exhaustive list of all encodings that YouTube is capable of handling, but my guess is that their capabilities are broad since they’d want to lower the barrier to entry as much as possible. If you can accept the fact that processed YouTube videos are going to be converted to H.264, perhaps this hack will work well enough for you.
