Pick a resolution and frame rate and get the bitrate to export at — with the platform's own recommended figure alongside, so your upload survives re-encoding.
Unlimited — runs in your browser
How It Works
1080p at 30fps, 4K at 60fps, or whatever you are actually exporting.
Standard for uploading, high for archival or footage that will be re-edited.
You get the recommended bitrate plus each platform's own guidance for the same settings.
Bitrate is how much data each second of video is allowed to use, measured in megabits per second. It is the single biggest lever on how a video looks. Too low and the encoder runs out of room to describe the picture — you get blocky shadows, smeared motion and mushy detail in anything that moves. Too high and you produce an enormous file that the platform is going to re-compress anyway.
Every platform re-encodes what you upload. That is the fact that makes this worth getting right: you are not exporting the file viewers will watch, you are exporting the source the platform's encoder will work from. Feed it something already compressed too hard and its encoder compounds the damage. Feeding it a slightly generous bitrate gives the re-encode room to work.
How much bitrate a given picture needs scales with pixels and with motion. Four times the pixels needs roughly four times the bitrate. Doubling the frame rate needs roughly 1.5x, not 2x, because consecutive frames are more similar at high frame rates and the encoder exploits that.
Why Use This Tool
Both drive the recommendation, because both drive how much data the picture actually needs.
Shows what each platform itself recommends for the same settings, not just a generic number.
Pair with a duration and you know what the export will weigh.
No account, no cap.
Recommendations assume the platform will re-compress your upload, because it will.
Check settings from your phone.
Reference
Starting points for H.264 SDR upload. Go higher for heavy motion, lower for a static talking head.
8-10 Mbps at 30fps, 12-15 Mbps at 60fps, for H.264 upload. Push higher for fast motion like sport or gameplay; a static talking head is fine at the bottom of the range.
Short-form vertical is 1080×1920, so the 1080p numbers apply — around 8-10 Mbps at 30fps. All three platforms re-encode, so exporting far above that just makes a bigger upload for the same result.
Only up to a point. Past what the picture needs, extra bitrate adds file size and nothing visible — and the platform re-encodes it away regardless.
VBR for uploads: it spends bits where the picture is complex and saves them where it is not, giving better quality at the same average. CBR matters for live streaming, where a predictable rate is the point.
Twice as many frames to describe. Not twice the bitrate though — consecutive frames are more alike at 60fps, so the encoder compresses the difference efficiently. About 1.5x is the usual rule.
H.264 for uploads. H.265 is more efficient but support for it is patchier, and since the platform re-encodes anyway the efficiency gain does not reach the viewer.
Every number on this page is a decision you would rather not make per video. ShortsHero exports at the correct spec for each destination automatically, so the bitrate question never comes up.
Skip the export settingsFree to start · No credit card required
Keep Going
Estimate video file size from bitrate, resolution and duration before you export. Checks the result against TikTok's 287.6MB upload cap. Free and instant.
Enter a video duration and see instantly which platforms accept it, which will reject it, and how much you need to cut. Current limits for every major platform.
Free video aspect ratio calculator. Enter your source size for exact 9:16, 1:1, 4:5 and 16:9 dimensions, plus how much of the frame each crop throws away.
Crop video online free. Drag a crop box over your footage, snap it to 9:16, 1:1, 4:5 or 16:9 for TikTok, Reels and Shorts, and export — no watermark, no sign-up.
Export at
9.0 Mbps
H.264, VBR
Acceptable range
7.2 – 11.3 Mbps
Resulting file
69 MB
Including 192 kbps audio
Every platform re-encodes what you upload, so you are not exporting the file viewers watch — you are exporting the source their encoder works from. A slightly generous bitrate gives that re-encode room; one that is already over-compressed compounds the damage. Use VBR for uploads.