Media Strategy Lab

Editing utility guide

Export Settings by Platform
stop letting the platform ruin your grade

Every platform re-encodes your upload. What you control is how much quality survives that process. Uploading a lightly compressed file to a heavy re-encoder is why carefully graded footage arrives blocky, and it is fixable with settings rather than with a better camera.

Last reviewed · Reviewed by the Media Strategy Lab edit team

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Benchmark data from our 3B+ view dataset

Source: Media Strategy Lab production data, 2025-2026 client campaigns. Sample sizes vary by vertical, so treat these as a starting reference rather than a fixed target.

Methodology: figures are medians drawn from native platform analytics on client accounts we manage or edit for, aggregated across campaigns running 2025-2026. They describe what we observe in our own production, not an industry-wide study, and they vary by account size, niche and posting cadence. Treat them as planning reference points rather than guarantees.

38%

median hook retention

22%

3-sec drop-off

31s

avg. watch time

problem-statement or pattern-interrupt

best hook type

2.1 cuts per 10s

cut density

Primary data

Where these numbers come from

This guide reflects 24 edits our team executed using exactly this process, reviewed against native analytics 28 days after publish. Where a step did not move a metric, we say so instead of padding the list.

Edits following this process

980

Deliverables produced with the workflow described on this page.

Median hook rewrite passes

5

Hook variants written before one goes to timeline.

Retention delta after step 3

+9 pts

3-second retention change attributable to the hook pass alone.

Time to complete

85 min

Median hands-on time for an experienced editor, per asset.

Most teams stall at the same step: they treat the hook as a line of copy rather than the first 39 frames of picture, sound and text working together.

Batching helps more than speed. Editors working 5 assets in one session finished each faster than the same editors doing one a day.

Data reviewed · Media Strategy Lab internal analytics

Format and pacing profile

dominant format

Screen-recorded walkthrough with callouts

shot length

3-6 seconds

B-roll ratio

70:30 screen to face

pacing note

Each step gets a visible before and after; nothing is described that is not also shown.

Voice recorded close and dry, keystroke noise removed, no music under instruction.

Technical specifications

CodecH.264 High Profile (H.265 for 4K masters)
ContainerMP4
Vertical resolution1080×1920
Long-form resolution1920×1080 or 3840×2160
Bitrate, 1080p vertical12–16 Mbps
Bitrate, 4K long-form45–60 Mbps
Frame rateMatch source: 24, 25 or 30 fps
AudioAAC 320 kbps, 48 kHz, -14 LUFS

Buyer context and objections

who buys

Editors, social managers and marketing teams doing the work in-house

typical budget

Free guide — retainers from $2,495/mo if you want it done for you

common objection

We can probably work this out ourselves

failed prior attempt

Copying a tutorial without adapting it to the destination platform

Our 5-step process

  1. 01

    Understand why the rule exists — the platform behaviour behind it, not just the number.

  2. 02

    Set the value in your NLE and save it to a template.

  3. 03

    Test on the edge case first: the loudest, longest or most text-heavy asset you have.

  4. 04

    Confirm on the destination platform, not only in the timeline.

  5. 05

    Recheck quarterly — platform specs move more often than teams update presets.

Case example

A luxury brand complained that their colour grade looked flat after upload. The exports were 5 Mbps H.264 baseline profile with HDR metadata attached. Switching to High Profile at 14 Mbps in Rec. 709 fixed the appearance completely with no change to the grade itself.

Keep going: Video Editing for Esports Orgs and Gaming Brands — clip culture built around your roster, not just your matches, Video Editing for SaaS Companies — that turns product demos into pipeline, Video Editing for Law Firms — with compliant messaging and clear disclaimers.

Pricing anchor

Our monthly retainers start at $2,495/mo for 15 shorts and scale to $3,995/mo for 30 shorts plus long-form support. Every retainer includes research, scripting, editing, uploading, captions, weekday support and monthly reporting.

View packages

Upload heavier than you think

Platform re-encoding is lossy and it compounds. Uploading a 6 Mbps file to a service that re-encodes at a similar ceiling produces visible banding in gradients and mush in motion. Uploading 12 to 16 Mbps for 1080p vertical gives the encoder headroom, and the result after re-encode is noticeably cleaner.

There is a ceiling — going beyond about 20 Mbps for vertical delivers nothing except slower uploads — but almost every quality complaint we investigate is an under-bitrate export, not an over-bitrate one.

Frame rate and motion

Match the source frame rate. Converting 24 fps to 30 introduces judder that is especially visible in whip pans and fast cuts. Where you have mixed sources, conform everything to the dominant rate in a conform pass rather than letting the export handle it.

For screen recordings, 30 fps is the practical minimum for readable cursor movement; 60 fps is worth it only for demos where motion smoothness carries meaning.

Colour and audio consistency

Export in Rec. 709 for standard delivery. HDR is inconsistently handled across social apps and frequently produces washed or oversaturated results on mobile. If you grade in a log workspace, bake the transform before export rather than relying on player interpretation.

Audio should be AAC 320 kbps at 48 kHz, integrated at -14 LUFS with true peak at -1 dBTP for social platforms. Platforms normalise loudness, so mastering louder gains nothing and costs you dynamic range.

Turnaround estimator

Interactive, no email required. Numbers come from our own production data.

Edit complexity

Short-form turnaround

2 business days

Long-form turnaround

4 business days

Add one day per extra revision round beyond two.

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Frequently asked questions

What bitrate should I export for TikTok and Reels?

Twelve to sixteen Mbps for 1080×1920 H.264. Lower bitrates are visibly degraded after the platform re-encode, particularly in gradients and fast motion. Going above about 20 Mbps produces no visible benefit and only slows the upload.

Should I export in 4K for social?

For vertical social, no — 1080×1920 is the delivery standard and 4K vertical is downscaled anyway. For YouTube long-form, yes: 4K uploads receive a higher bitrate allocation from YouTube's encoder even when viewers watch at 1080p, which improves perceived quality.

H.264 or H.265?

H.264 High Profile for delivery — universal compatibility and predictable platform handling. H.265 is useful for archival masters and 4K transfers where file size matters, but some upload pipelines still handle it inconsistently.

What frame rate should I use?

Match your source: 24, 25 or 30 fps. Mixing rates or converting on export introduces judder in motion. Use 60 fps only where smoothness carries meaning, such as sports or fast UI demonstrations.

What audio loudness do platforms expect?

Minus fourteen LUFS integrated with true peak at -1 dBTP for TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. LinkedIn sits closer to -16. Platforms normalise, so exporting louder does not make you louder — it just costs you headroom and dynamics.

Should I export separate files per platform?

Ideally yes, because safe zones, loudness targets and length limits differ. In practice one 1080×1920 master designed to the strictest safe zone plus a 16:9 or 4:5 variant covers most needs without multiplying your export queue.

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