How many times have you sat staring at your computer screen, tapping your fingers in frustration waiting for your video to process? Believe me I know that infuriating feeling very well. So I went ahead and did an intense research to become omniscient with how the processing on YouTube works behind the scenes. Continue reading to become the mega-mind on YouTube video processing.
Statistics from 2019 show that almost 30,000 hours of video content is uploaded on YouTube per hour (source). Considering this huge chunk of data, how long does YouTube take to process a video, do you think? The YouTube team has two agendas; they want to make sure their audience receives the finest quality of video all the while ensuring the entire process does not take too much time.
If we manage our expectations relative to what in the entire process requires time to upload, the journey of becoming a YouTube sensation with tons of subscribers may seem like a breeze. The part of uploading that makes you feel as if the clock is moving slower is because of:
- the number of videos currently in the transcoding pipeline
- the Resolution of the video
- the format of the video
- how long the video is
Upload Traffic
The unknown entity that we need to wrap our head around will be the traffic on the website at the moment you decide to post a video online. So the fate of how soon your YouTube video views can begin to increase is, to some extent is dependent on how people across the globe are trying to do the exact same thing. This is the upload traffic on the site.
Video Resolution
The quality of the video can vary from 480p to 1080p, the speed at which the video will upload is directly proportional to the resolution. A 1080p or 780p resolution video can take hours to render on YouTube, while a 480p one might upload faster in comparison.
Length of the Video
Looking at these individual characteristics we can develop a general guideline that summarizes the time period of how long it takes YouTube to process a video. Depending on the length of the video, you can expect it to take 1-2 minute(s) for the site to process each minute of your video. The catch comes with the resolution of the video. It can take double the initial time per minute as resolution improves. In simple terms:
Normal processing time: 1 minute to 2 minutes of processing time per minute of video
With better resolution: 2 x (normal processing time per minute)
There is always a silver lining to any situation. In order to post a video quickly and on a schedule all you need to do is know your facts and adjust when you start uploading a video online accordingly. Hope this will help increase the shares on your content and it reaches a wide audience. Now that you have a plan, you can sit back, relax and let the views and the likes start rolling in!
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