I’m baffled. I created a 720p HD video that I uploaded to YouTube just now, but when the site made the video available to view, it was only in non-high-def resolutions of 360p and lower. What happened to the HD resolutions and how do I get this to work properly?
Kudos to you on creating and uploading video content, first of all. While text is still the language of search engines, I think that video is the language of users and a staggering amount of video content is consumed online every day across the world. The result is that smart bloggers and content producers are mixing it up, creating video and uploading it to YouTube and other sites in addition to the other materials that they write and produce for the online community. It’s just a good idea!
As someone who produces a lot of video content, I have long since realized that YouTube has its quirks and oddities, particularly with what’s going on behind the scenes from the moment you first upload a raw video until it’s fully and completely available for view by your friends and colleagues. And that’s exactly what’s happening here in your situation too.
In fact, the solution is ridiculously easy: just be patient.
Here’s what I mean…
I also uploaded a video that I produced in 720p resolution, but when YouTube made it available to view, a first check on the available resolutions produced this result:
That’s not right! In fact, a quick check on the video resolution of the original that I uploaded shows quite distinctly that it’s in 720p:
It’s the middle entry in this Quicktime Inspector view: H.264, 1280 x 720, 48k Hz stereo.
So where did the HD resolutions go? Nowhere. Turns out that HD resolutions are slower for YouTube to process and prepare for inclusion, so the only thing to do is wait. After a period of time — in this case about an hour — a visit to the page reveals that the missing resolutions have magically appeared:
That’s much better. Lots of choices to meet the needs of a variety of viewers.
And this is the easiest solution ever. Just… wait. And it’ll fix itself.
Now if only all computer problems were this easy to resolve.
Thanks so much for your re-assurance Dave. I had just uploaded a 1 hour video in 1080P that took 3 days and was close to dispair when I saw it was only available in 360P. 🙁 You were right… half an hour or so later I saw 720P was available, and soon after 1080 was as well. So glad I read your article before deleting and re-uploading! 🙂 Whew!
Yes, would be great if all computer issues resolved themselves with a bit of patience.
I uploaded a MPEG4 1080p video 10 hours ago and its only available in 360p or lower on YouTube after uploading. Never had this issue before with any other video. Was your fixed with time? I could not find any solution for this on any forum.
Waiting one hour for HD to fix itself on YouTube doesn’t seem so good. If your system is at all like mine, that HD fix will reset itself back to what you do not want, by the next time you use YouTube. I havent been able to hear YouTube (or anything else) on my Windows 7 computer for at least a year. In addition, YouTube will only show me the opening ad, then it stops playing. I can play Netflix movies, but still cannot get audio in them. The audio is botched. Windows Updates have never worked on my computer since I purchased it new at Walmart in 2010. All my updates were attempted, I repeatedly tried to do updates, tried every method I could think of, and nothing has worked. No critical updates were ever installed. Most programs do not install without a very great struggle. I admit a few Windows Updates worked, but they were few and far between. My list of failed updates is virtually solid failed all the way thru since 2010. I want to jam these updates in, I need a method to do it. Nothing works. Dell wants me to just reinstall the original operating system which is Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit versioni 7601. But that is the very same system that never updated on my computer, or updated only very occasionally. So, as everyone tells me, it is probably new computer time, but I spent something like 800 on this thing, and frankly had intended to use it for like 10 years. I have zero confidence in Windows and Microsoft, who I feel is responsible for the failed updates, primarily.