YouTube

• Website: http://www.youtube.com/

YouTube is a website that allows users to upload video that can then be viewed by other users. Some of YouTube's wild popularity hinges on its accessibility-- it is able to accept multimedia files encoded in an enormous array of formats. Some suspect that YouTube's backend conversion software leverages FFmpeg. FFmpeg supports a wide range of multimedia formats as documented in this Multimedia Wiki. This Wiki page is an effort to determine which multimedia formats can be converted by YouTube's software.

Note that this is an ongoing project and is not exactly an authoritative list of all the formats that YouTube accepts.

Formats That YouTube Accepts

container	video codec	audio codec	status	YouTube link	sample file name	sample location	date tested
AVI	FMP4	PCM	works	converted video	n/a	n/a	January 4, 2007
RoQ	RoQ Video	Id RoQ DPCM	some visual bugs	converted video	jk02.roq	location	January 4, 2007
Sega FILM	Cinepak	PCM	mostly works	converted video converted video converted video converted video converted video	worldseriesbaseball.cpk hiddensouls-gun-butterfly.cpk intro.film corelogo-stereo.cpk R01.CAK	location	January 4, 2007
4xm Format	4xm Video	4X IMA ADPCM	somewhat works	converted video	aitd-29.4xm	location	January 4, 2007
Flic Video	Flic Video	n/a	works	converted video converted video	a.fli fli-engines.fli	location	January 4, 2007
AVI	DUCK, 16-bit variant	Duck DK4 IMA ADPCM	works	converted video converted video	vc2_intro.avi salsa.avi	location	January 4, 2007
AVI	DUCK, 24-bit variant	Duck DK3 IMA ADPCM	visual bugs	converted video	sonic3dblast_intro.avi	location	January 4, 2007
MOV	8BPS	??	works	converted video	full9ironswing.mov	location	January 4, 2007
AVI	AASC	??	works	converted video	AASC.AVI	location	January 4, 2007
AVI	AP41	??	works	converted video	AP2_teaser.avi	location	January 4, 2007
AVI	ASV1	??	works	converted video	ASV1.avi	location	January 4, 2007
AVI	ASV2	??	works	converted video	asv2_320x240_3.avi	location	January 4, 2007
AVI	CJPG	??	works	converted video	video013_paulera.avi	location	January 4, 2007
AVI	CLJR	??	works	converted video	testcljr.avi	location	January 4, 2007
AVI	CRAM, 8-bit variant	Microsoft ADPCM	works	converted video	dance.avi	location	January 4, 2007
AVI	CRAM, 16-bit variant	??	works	converted video	clock-cram16.avi	location	January 4, 2007
MOV	Cinepak, 8-bit palettized	??	works	converted video (private)	catfight%20Tag%20team%20DT.mov	location	January 4, 2007
AVI	CYUV	n/a	works	converted video	cyuv.avi	location	January 4, 2007
AVI	DXGM	??	works	converted video	0x4D475844-wow.avi	location	January 4, 2007
AVI	I263	??	works	converted video	i263.avi	location	January 4, 2007
AVI	IV32	??	works	converted video	levis.avi	location	January 4, 2007
AVI	IV41	??	works	converted video	indeo41.avi	location	January 4, 2007
AVI	IV50	??	works	converted video	Educ_Movie_DeadlyForce.avi	location	January 4, 2007
MOV	ZyGo	??	somewhat works	converted video	Film_200_zygo_pro.mov	location	January 4, 2007
AVI	WV1F	??	works	converted video	title2.avi	location	January 4, 2007
AVI	QPEG	??	works	converted video	Clock.avi	location	January 4, 2007
AVI	RT21	??	works	converted video	VPAR0019.AVI	location	January 4, 2007
MOV	RPZA	n/a	works	converted video	rpza2.mov	location	January 4, 2007
MOV	SMC	n/a	works	converted video	cass_schi.qt	location	January 4, 2007
AVI	TM20	??	works	converted video	sqlogo.avi	location	January 4, 2007
AVI	YVU9	n/a	works	converted video	indeoraw1.2.avi	location	January 4, 2007
NuppelVideo	NuppelVideo RTJPEG	??	works	converted video	Today.nuv	location	January 4, 2007
PVA	MPEG-2	MPEG layer 2	works	converted video	PVA_DeejayTV_Coldplay.pva	location	January 4, 2007
RealMedia	RV10	??	works	converted video	jade-56.rm	location	January 4, 2007
RealMedia	RV20	??	works	converted video	Legend-of-the-Rangers_I.rm	location	January 4, 2007
RealMedia	RV30	??	works	converted video	eiqu-56k.rm	location	January 4, 2007
FLV	Sorenson Spark	??	works	converted video	zelda.flv	location	January 4, 2007
AVI	FFV1	n/a	works	converted video	custom command line <ref name="avi-ffv1-command-line">'mencoder /dev/urandom -demuxer rawvideo -rawvideo w=320:h=240:fps=24 -frames 120 -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=ffv1 -o test.avi'</ref>	n/a	January 4, 2007
YUV4MPEG2	Raw YCbCr 4:2:0	n/a	works	converted video	custom command line<ref name="yuv4mpeg2-command-line">'ffmpeg -i inputfile.ext outputfile.y4m'</ref>	n/a	January 5, 2007
AVI	Microsoft RLE	Microsoft ADPCM	works	converted video			January 14, 2007
MOV	SVQ1	QDM2	works	converted video			January 20, 2007
Rad Game Tools Smacker	Smacker Video	Smacker Audio	somewhat works	converted video	Streets of Sim City intro.smk		December 15, 2008
Wing Commander III MVE	Wing Commander III MVE Video Codec	PCM	audio works, no video	converted video	wc3-chewed-out.mve	location	September 23, 2009
Quake II CIN	Quake II CIN Video	PCM	audio works, glitched video	converted video	idlog.cin	location	September 23, 2009
Interplay MVE	Interplay Video	Interplay DPCM	audio works, no video	converted video	baldursgate-logo.mve	location	September 23, 2009
Westwood VQA	Westwood VQA	Westwood ADPCM Audio	works	converted video	cc-demo1.vqa	location	September 23, 2009
AVI	CSCD	??	works	converted video	sample_video.avi	location	September 23, 2009
AVI	KMVC	??	works	converted video	LOGO1.AVI	location	September 23, 2009
MOV	3IV2	??	works	converted video	Aqua_...partial.mov	location	September 23, 2009
Magic Carpet Modified FLIC	Modified FLIC	n/a	works	converted video	logo.dat	location	September 23, 2009
AVI	ZMBV	??	works	converted video	td3_000.avi	location	September 23, 2009
AVI	On2 VP6	??	works	converted video	chvp6_390kb.vp6		September 23, 2009
RealMedia	RV40	??	works	converted video	spygames-2MB.rmvb	location	September 23, 2009
Vivo	Vivo H.263	Vivo Siren	works	[converted video	trail28.viv	location	September 23, 2009

Formats That YouTube Fails To Convert

The reason that this list tests so many obscure formats is that YouTube is known to handle an impressive number of obscure formats just fine.

Note that items marked rejected because they were too long are probably results of software malfunction; the samples should not exceed the 10-minute time length (I'm making this assumption based on their relatively small sizes --Multimedia Mike).

container	video codec	audio codec	status	YouTube error	sample file name	sample location	date tested
Creature Shock AVS	AVS video	PCM	fails	Failed (unable to convert video file)	THEEND.AVS	location	September 23, 2009
AVI	COL1	??	fails	Rejected (length of video is too long)	sample.vid	location	January 4, 2007
MOV	IV41	??	fails	Failed (no additional information)	indeo41.avi	location	January 4, 2007
MOV	PGVV	??	fails	Failed (unable to convert video file)	airfone.mov	location	September 23, 2009
VMD	VMD video	VMD audio	fails	Rejected (length of video is too long) Failed (unable to convert video file)	phantas-intro-R-rated.vmd swat_3157.vmd	location	January 4, 2007
American Laser Games MM	MM Video	PCM	fails	Failed (invalid file format)	scene6.mm	location	January 4, 2007
FLV	Flash screen video	??	fails	Failed (invalid file format)	screen.flv	location	January 4, 2007
AVI	Snow	n/a	fails	Failed (unable to convert video file)	custom command line <ref name="avi-snow-command-line">'mencoder /dev/urandom -demuxer rawvideo -rawvideo w=320:h=240:fps=24 -frames 120 -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=snow -o test.avi'</ref>	n/a	January 4, 2007
Bink Container	Bink Video	Bink Audio		Failed (invalid file format)	logo_legal.bik	location	February 9, 2007

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