YouTube video size: 16:9 resolutions and upload settings

The standard YouTube video size is 16:9, the aspect ratio YouTube calls standard on a computer, and a 1080p video is 1920×1080 pixels. YouTube lists 16:9 sizes from 426×240 (240p) up to 7680×4320 (8K). One upload can be up to 256 GB or 12 hours, whichever is less, and until you verify your account it can be at most 15 minutes long. To get an exact 1920×1080 file from Sume, set a Timeline 1.0 render's output to that size.

YouTube's numbers are quoted from its Help pages Video resolution & aspect ratios, recommended upload encoding settings and Upload videos longer than 15 minutes, which can change. Sume facts come from the Timeline 1.0, Video generation and Video inspect docs and the probe's field list in the Sume API reference. All were read on 2026-09-28.

What resolution should a YouTube video be?

Encode at one of the 16:9 resolutions YouTube lists below. YouTube notes that in 2022 it started removing playback support for resolutions between 4K and 8K, so it may no longer play a 5K upload at 5K.

Other shapes play too: the player adapts itself to vertical or square videos, and on a computer YouTube may add its own padding around a 9:16 video, white by default and dark gray in Dark theme. It advises against adding padding or black bars to the video itself, because they interfere with how the player resizes to your video and the viewer's device. A square or vertical file of up to 3 minutes can be uploaded as a Short, which has its own specs.

What are YouTube's recommended upload settings?

YouTube gives them as recommendations and says no bitrate limit is required: an MP4 with fast start, H.264 at 4:2:0 with a closed GOP of half the frame rate, and AAC-LC or Opus audio at 48 kHz, which YouTube Shorts video specs goes through line by line. The details that depend on your video:

• Video bitrate: the SDR figures are in the table above. Standard frame rates are 24, 25 and 30 fps; high frame rates are 48, 50 and 60 fps.
• HDR: the recommendations are higher, such as 10 Mbps for 1080p at a standard frame rate and 15 Mbps at a high one, and YouTube marks 480p and 360p as not supported for HDR.
• Frame rate: upload at the rate the video was recorded. Deinterlace interlaced footage first; YouTube's example is 1080i60 to 1080p30.
• Audio bitrate: 128 kbps for mono, 384 kbps for stereo and 512 kbps for 5.1.
• Color: BT.709 for SDR uploads.

How big and how long can a YouTube upload be?

The maximum is 256 GB or 12 hours, whichever is less. By default an upload can be up to 15 minutes long; verified accounts can go longer, and YouTube verifies an account with a code sent by text message or an automated voice call. For a file over 256 GB, YouTube suggests compressing it with the H.264 codec in a video editor.

How do I make a 1920×1080 video with Sume?

Generate clips with aspect_ratio: "16:9" on a model whose supported_aspect_ratios lists it (Video generation), then join them with Timeline 1.0: a /v1/videos clip runs 30 seconds at most (length limits by model). A render's default output is 1080×1920, so set output to 1920×1080; output.fps takes 24, 25, 30 or 60. A render runs 1 to 1,800 seconds, so one over 15 minutes needs a verified YouTube account. Every URL must already be a media.sume.com file in your workspace, such as an earlier job's output (which URLs each endpoint takes).

• Today a render's sound comes from its audio spine and optional soundtrack, not from the clips, so pass the voiceover or music track as audio.url.
• Timeline edges stop at 2160 pixels, so it can't render 1440p (2K), 2160p (4K) or 4320p (8K). For 4K clips, see 4K AI video generation.
• A render has no bitrate setting: in current code it encodes H.264 at a constant quality (CRF) rather than a target bitrate. To compare a render with the table, run the unbilled probe (POST /v1/video-inspect with frames: false) and divide size_bytes × 8 by duration_seconds (how to check a video's bitrate).
• API pricing lists Timeline render at $0.10 per output minute, plus a 5.5% agent fee by default.

curl -X POST https://api.sume.com/v1/timeline-1.0/render \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SUME_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: youtube-1080p-001" \
  -d '{
    "audio": {
      "url": "https://media.sume.com/artifacts/artf_demo/voice.wav",
      "duration_seconds": 24
    },
    "video": [
      { "source_url": "https://media.sume.com/artifacts/artf_demo/intro.mp4", "start": 0, "duration": 8 },
      { "source_url": "https://media.sume.com/artifacts/artf_demo/talk.mp4", "start": 8, "duration": 16 }
    ],
    "output": { "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "fps": 30 }
  }'