Which is the Best Video File formats for Video Editing and Sharing

Knowing your video's file format will not only help you save time but also storage space. Video file extensions like WMV, MP4, MPEG, AVI, etc. play a huge role in the editing and sharing process. So will the video's format affect the editing process? Yes! Shooting a video in the right format is crucial. And even more important than that is knowing which video editing application to use. 

If you shoot a video in MP4 and later find out that your video editing software doesn't support it, you'll have to convert the video, which will reduce the video's size and lower its quality. Wondershare Filmora is a great video editing software that lets you import and edit pretty much all video file formats! Let's talk about video editing first. 

Section1: Will Video Format Affect Editing and Sharing?

Section2：What is the Best Video Formats for Different Platforms？

Section3: The best editor for different formats and video sizes

Section 1. Will Video Format Affect Editing and Sharing?

Notice how clean and crisp your video looks in your camera/phone when you shoot it? The original video format in your camera is the highest quality video. When you edit it, assuming your video editor supports the format, the video's size will get reduced which will result in some loss of quality. Compression is necessary if you want to share your videos. 

If you change your video file format while you're editing, it will reduce video's size and result in even more quality degradation, so it's best to keep the video in the original file format. Sometimes, however, the original file will be too large and you won't be able to share it anywhere unless the video's size is reduced. Many editing softwares have preset that you can use to export your video in the correct format. 

Choosing the right format for your video depends on who your audience is. If it's a funny video you just want to show to your friends, you don't have to worry about compression or re-encoding and can export videos in any file format. 

If you want to send it to a client, you’ll have to make sure you don't reduce the video's size by compressing it too many times while exporting it in the format specified by the client. Knowing which video file format works best with which platform will help you preserve the quality of the video.  

Section 2. What is the Best Video Formats for Different Social Platforms

You might be wondering which file format you should use for which platform and what are the best video export settings for Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, etc. It's confusing and frustrating, especially if all you want to do is share a video of your cute cat with your Facebook friends. The truth is, there's no best video format for editing, but video formats that are most frequently used are: MP4, AVI, FLV, MKV, and MOV. 

Most platforms support the most popular video formats, but then why do videos sometimes look blurry and odd when you post them on your Facebook and Instagram? There is no best video format for editing or sharing and every platform has a format that works best for that platform. 

If you want to watch a movie on your TV, then you should export your video in MOV, AVI, or MKV as they will export with the highest settings. Exporting in these formats will take time and space, though, as they can be quite large in size. 

If you want to burn a video onto DVD, export the video in MPEG-2. 

Below are the formats that work best on some of the most popular online platforms: 

• Facebook – The formats that work best on Facebook are MOV and MP4 with Codec and AAC audio. The frame rate of the video has to be 30fps or below and the video size limit is 1.75GB. Don't get confused by those numbers and audio settings, they are fairly easy to change with Filmora.
• Twitter – MP4 videos with Codec with a frame rate of 40fps or below and a size of 15MB or below work best on Twitter. 
• Instagram – The best video export settings for Instagram are MP4 with Codec and AAC audio with a video bitrate of 3,500 kbps. The frame rate should be 30fps or below and the size limit is 15mb. 
• Instagram IGTV – IGTV supports MP4 videos that have a minimum frame rate of 30fps. The size limit is 650MB. Verified Instagram accounts can post longer videos that have sizes up to 3.6GB. 
• YouTube – When you export video for YouTube, you can choose from any of the popular video formats. YouTube is primarily a video sharing site so it's only natural that it’ll support every major format and frame rate. It has a size limit of 128GB. 
• Pinterest – Supports MP4, MOV, and M4V with Codec. The length of the video has to be between 4 seconds and 15 minutes and the size limit is 2GB. 

Now that you know which format works best on which platform, you can easily share that video of your cute cat on Facebook in the highest quality. This will help you save time and you won’t have to worry about your friends and followers complaining about your videos looking blurry. 

Section 3. The best editor for different formats and video sizes：FilmoraX

If you're not motivated enough to learn about codecs, containers, and file formats, then your best bet is to use Wondershare Filmora. Filmora supports the following formats: MP4, WMV, AVI, MOV, F4V, MKV, TS, 3GP, MPEG-2, WEBM, GIF, and MP3.

As you can see, it supports every major video file format, so you don't have to worry about what format to shoot or edit your video in. Whether you want to export for YouTube or Instagram, Filmora will do everything for you. 

Filmora's export settings can be changed easily. You can change the resolution, bit rate, and frame rate by clicking on the SETTINGS button. Filmora recommends that you export videos in the same settings the original videos were in.

If you feel the size of the video is too big, you can change it by adjusting the bit rate in the Filmora export settings window. 

Conclusion

All in all, choosing the right video format when exporting it is important if you want to preserve the quality and want your editing process to be smooth. Download Wondershare Filmora if you want lossless video compression and an easy exporting process. It supports all major video file formats and you can easily change the resolution, bitrate, and frame rate with it so that your video looks sharp.