What is Video Bitrate? How It Affects Your Video Quality & Size

You've spent hours working on your video and have done everything from perfect colors and clear audio to the point when you think it's time to publish your creation. However, upon finishing export/upload, you realize that the quality of your video does not match what you were seeing in the editor; some parts appear blurred, or lack details in fast-motion shots, or the size of your video exceeds its reasonable value significantly.

The most common reason behind all these issues is video bitrate.

Unlike such video settings as resolution or frame rate, bitrate does not attract that much attention, but it's no less important, especially considering the impact on video appearance and size.

What Is Video Bitrate?

Bitrate in videos is the amount of data consumed by the video per second. It basically determines the amount of information contained in the video that will enable it to be displayed on screen.

The higher the bitrate in a video, the more information the video possesses. On the other hand, the lower the bitrate, the less the amount of information in the video. This implies that when the amount of information is high, then image quality improves, and vice versa.

Just like when packing a suitcase, where one can fit many items if space is plentiful; otherwise, they have to do away with some, so does bitrate affect the size of videos?

Why Bitrate Matters

Lots of folks tend to think that resolution is the only factor that really affects quality. Sure, resolution matters, but bitrate seems to play a big role too, in the final look, like it or not.

For instance, two videos could both be exported as 1080p. Yet if one of them uses a much lower bitrate, it might end up looking softer, pretty noticeably compared to the other.

A suitable bitrate helps preserve:

• Image sharpness
• Fine details
• Color accuracy
• Smooth motion
• Overall viewing quality

With a low bitrate, visual information is stripped off when compressing the video. The result may be that the video looks less natural, particularly during fast movements.

How Bitrate Affects Video Quality

The relationship between bitrate and quality is fairly simple. More data usually allows more detail to be preserved. Imagine recording a football match, a racing event, or a busy city street. These scenes contain constant movement and many small details. They require more information to look clear and smooth.

When the bitrate isn't high enough, viewers may notice:

• Blurry motion
• Pixelated areas
• Blocky artifacts
• Loss of texture and detail
• Reduced sharpness

In contrast, a well-chosen bitrate actually helps to keep the original quality of the video clip, and it also boosts the whole viewing enjoyment, like a smoother experience.

How Bitrate Affects File Size

Bitrate affects file size as much as video quality. Higher bitrates store more data per second, creating larger files, while lower bitrates reduce file size by saving less information. If you have a video with a very high bitrate, you can use our free video compressor to reduce video file size without losing noticeable quality.

Benefits of a Lower Bitrate

• Smaller video files
• Faster uploads
• Easier sharing
• Reduced storage requirements

Benefits of a Higher Bitrate

• Better image quality
• More visible detail
• Cleaner fast-motion scenes
• Improved viewing experience

Nevertheless, the best quality is somewhere in the middle of these two situations, when the quality remains acceptable without resulting in large file sizes.

Constant Bitrate vs Variable Bitrate

When exporting videos, you'll often come across two bitrate options.

Constant Bitrate (CBR)

CBR keeps the same bitrate throughout the entire video.

Advantages:

• Consistent data usage
• Predictable file sizes
• Commonly used for live streaming

Disadvantages:

• Less efficient compression
• May use more data than necessary

Variable Bitrate (VBR)

VBR adjusts the bitrate depending on the complexity of the scene.

Advantages:

• Better compression efficiency
• Improved quality-to-size ratio
• More efficient use of data

Disadvantages:

• Less predictable file size
• Slightly longer encoding times

For most recorded videos, VBR is often the preferred choice because it balances quality and file size more effectively.

What Factors Influence Bitrate Requirements?

Not all videos require the same bitrate, as there are several considerations that come into play. They include:

Resolution: Videos with high resolution have more pixels and usually require higher bitrates.

Frame rate: A video shot at 60 fps will have more frames per second than a video shot at 30 fps.

Complexity of scene: A simple interview may require less bitrate than sports footage or action scenes.

Video codec: Modern codecs can compress video more efficiently. See our guide comparing H.264 vs H.265 (HEVC) to see how codec selection influences your bitrate requirements.

Quick Tips for Choosing the Right Bitrate

If you're unsure which setting to use, keep these points in mind:

• Match bitrate to your video resolution.
• Use VBR for most pre-recorded content.
• Test different export settings before publishing.
• Avoid extremely high bitrates unless necessary.
• Consider your audience's internet speed.
• Follow platform recommendations like the YouTube recommended upload encoding settings when uploading videos online.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Does a higher bitrate always mean better quality?

Not always. Beyond a particular stage, an increase in the bitrate might lead to the creation of bigger files but with no significant change in picture quality.

• Can bitrate affect streaming performance?

Yes, videos with very high bitrates consume a lot of bandwidth, making it hard to stream for people who have slow internet speeds.

• Is bitrate important for YouTube uploads?

Yes. A suitable bitrate helps preserve quality before the platform applies its own compression during processing. If you want to extract audio instead of uploading video, check out our guide on how to choose the best video to MP3 converter for your workflow.

Final Thoughts

Bitrate of videos is one of the essential parameters that a lot of video makers tend to ignore, yet it greatly affects video quality as well as file size. Choosing the wrong value for this parameter can result either in loss of details and clarity of the final video, or in making the resulting file very large and hard to distribute.

With this knowledge, one can ensure not only professional quality but also good file sizes of the exported videos. A slight change of this parameter can have an impact on the result.