What bitrate should you encode 4k video?
 

For 1080p HD I see many sites have the bitrate set to 4,000 kbps and a few have it at 8,000 kbps. What's the standard bitrate for a 4k video so it looks good? Youtube recommends uploads of 4k at around 35,000 kbps but that seems way high.

I think YouTube is stating that bitrate for the original that is uploaded, but they re-encode to a bitrate they prefer.

I see Vimeo is about the same range. https://vimeo.com/help/compression

I guess my questions would be:

1- Are you looking for a streaming bitrate that you are going to stream yourself?

2- Are you simply providing the video in a members area for download by paying customers, which can be a higher bitrate.

Type Video Bitrate, Standard Frame Rate (24, 25, 30) Video Bitrate, High Frame Rate (48, 50, 60)
2160p (4k) 35-45 Mbps 53-68 Mbps
1440p (2k) 16 Mbps 24 Mbps
1080p 8 Mbps 12 Mbps
720p 5 Mbps 7.5 Mbps

I just opened Final Cut and Compressor on the Mac here.

The templates this guy had set-up where at:

24,576 for download file (no streaming)

12,288 for streaming (files are h.264 / .mp4)

The math says 1080p that seems good at 4000, would be same quality footage 2160p at 16,000

Mark, for 2160p is that 35-45 a streaming bitrate?

damn, we're editing our hd way too high if 4 or 8kbps's a standard... >> 24kbps all my vids :2 cents:

If the video is going to be streamed or viewed on a TV then yes, make it as high a bitrate as possible. But for phones, laptops, even most desktop monitors, 8000 is more than enough.

What format? Is a vbr template offered? If so I'd set the max to 20k and the lowest to 6. This way you're not using all that compression on a part of the scene that has less information in it. If you only have a cbr i'd go 20k but for download only. If you are streaming 4k (which really is an oxymoron) use whatever settings popular web services use. You can always save much needed bw on your streaming by cutting down on the audio quality. Hope that helps
Ds