Okay, I need codecs. (For Videos, Music, etc.)

[CodeBrain]

Well Im making videos on Youtube, but I am wondering if there is any better codecs than the one I'm using now (Divx video codec, and mp3 codec for audio)

If anyone would suggest better ones, I will try them out. Rep will be given (That is, if vBulletin lets me :( )

[Saggy]

Well, if your video is high quality enough, you could try using an H.264 encoding of the video and AAC for audio. That way, there will be little to no quality loss while still keeping a relatively small video file size.

[Cortexian]

Yea, just use the H.264 codec and encode at 720p, it gives you pretty good quality (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWnH-6e4ki4).

[Jean-Luc]

h.264 definitely works.
I use Sony Vegas when I upload my stuff at 720p, and if you wanted to give that program a shot, you can get a 30 day free trial. Does an excellent job.

Note that if you choose to try the program, use MainConcept AVC .mp4 format, rather than Sony .mp4. For some reason Youtube only likes MainConcept type.

[Cortexian]

I just use Adobe Premiere CS4 + Adobe Media Encoder CS4, does a pretty good job fairly quickly.

[CodeBrain]

Well, if your video is high quality enough, you could try using an H.264 encoding of the video and AAC for audio. That way, there will be little to no quality loss while still keeping a relatively small video file size.

For some reason I cannot get a AAC encoder. Camtasia Studio isnt picking up the exe files from Nero, can you give me a link please (If you can)

[Saggy]

For some reason I cannot get a AAC encoder. Camtasia Studio isnt picking up the exe files from Nero, can you give me a link please (If you can)
What version are you using? As I recall, the newer versions of Camtasia come with an AAC encoder.

[CodeBrain]

Camtasia Studio 6.

I dont see it in my encoding options for the audio.

D:

[Saggy]

Is the audio from a video or is it just a sound file? I think you can just add the audio into a video and save it as a High-Quality .MP4 (MPEG-4 AVC) in Camtasia editor and it will automatically encode the video with a H.264 codec and encode the audio with AAC codec.

E: If you can't do that, the next best thing would be an AC3 encoding of the audio which IS possible to do in the Camtasia Audio Editor. Just give me a second and I can find the link.

E2: http://www.free-codecs.com/download_soft.php?d=4194&s=12 AC3 Codec Link

[CodeBrain]

Before I record the video, I set the options to what I want. In this case, I needed AAC, but its not on the list.

Of course, AC3 might work too...

E: All I see is decoders for AC3, no Encoders D:

I need to look better

[Saggy]

Ok, well after fiddling around with my Camtasia, I couldn't get the AC3 Codec to work, but there is a pretty high quality MP3 codec that comes with Camtasia. When selecting your audio compression, in the format dropdown choose MPEG Layer-3 (TechSmith LAME). In the attributes dropdown select 48000 Hz, 320 kbps Stereo.

I then finish my recording and then to encode it with the H.264 codec (http://x264.nl/), I open the raw .avi I just recorded in VirtualDub. I then, under the Video menu, make sure Full Processing Mode is checked and hit Ctrl+P. I scroll down and select x264 - H264/AVC Encoder and hit configure. I then change the average bitrate to 4000 and hit ok and ok again. Then, I make sure that under the Audio Menu "Direct Stream Copy" is checked so it doesn't re-compress the audio.

Here is my results: FrQzTjPHDLY

As you can tell, the audio and video quality is pretty good. Also note that my screen resolution was alot bigger then Youtube allows so it got scaled, so that's not True HD but you get the point. If you want the actual .avi file I can send it to you for example.

Also, for that 6 seconds, the file is only 500 kb which is good compared to the 1MB raw data that it was.

E: Everything that I briefly explained in this post can be read in more detail here (http://www.hdtvtotal.com/module-pagesetter-viewpub-tid-1-pid-999.html#editierung). Just replace FRAPS with Camtasia and remember to use the audio settings I told you and don't compress audio in VirtualDub.