YouTube Audio Quality Bitrate used for 240p, 360p, 480p, 720p, and 1080p
When a video is uploaded to YouTube, several versions of the video and audio data are saved at different quality levels. The video resolutions are 240p, 360p, 480p, 720p, 1080p, and Original, and the video becomes sharper as you go higher. YouTube also plays higher quality audio as you increase the video resolution. This post lists which audio quality is played for each video resolution.Since the audio bit rate and quality has improved over the years and continues to change, not all videos may follow these charts exactly. Old videos and videos not in the standard resolutions may lead to unexpected quality levels. This post last updated February 2013.
Current Audio Quality
Videos uploaded July 2012 to date should have these audio qualities, as long as the originally uploaded video had a high enough audio bit rate or was lossless:
| Resolution | Audio Bit Rate | Compression |
|---|---|---|
| Original | 192 kbps | AAC |
| 1080p | 192 kbps | AAC |
| 720p | 192 kbps | AAC |
| 480p | 128 kbps | AAC |
| 360p | 128 kbps | AAC |
| 240p | 64 kbps | MP3 |
- Occasionally you can find a 240p-only video that has 96 kbps audio bit rate, like this one. I'm not sure why.
- "Original" resolution is any video size that is larger than 1920x1080. For example, if you upload a 1920x1200 or 2560x1600 video, it should show the "Original" option. The audio quality is currently the same as 720p and 1080p.
- YouTube will often update older videos to play better audio quality, if that higher quality audio was saved when it was originally uploaded.
Past Audio Quality
Videos uploaded May 2011 to July 2012 had these audio qualities, as long as the originally uploaded video had a high enough audio bit rate or was lossless:
| Resolution | Audio Bit Rate | Compression |
|---|---|---|
| Original | 152 kbps | AAC |
| 1080p | 152 kbps | AAC |
| 720p | 152 kbps | AAC |
| 480p | 128 kbps | AAC |
| 360p | 128 kbps | AAC |
| 240p | 64 kbps | MP3 |
Videos uploaded March 2011 to May 2011 had these audio qualities, as long as the originally uploaded video had a high enough audio bit rate or was lossless:
| Resolution | Audio Bit Rate | Compression |
|---|---|---|
| 1080p | 128 kbps | AAC |
| 720p | 128 kbps | AAC |
| 480p | 128 kbps | AAC |
| 360p | 128 kbps | AAC |
| 240p | 64 kbps | MP3 |
Before March 2011, YouTube used these audio qualities for several years:
| Resolution | Audio Bit Rate | Compression |
|---|---|---|
| 1080p | 128 kbps | AAC |
| 720p | 128 kbps | AAC |
| 480p | 96 kbps | AAC |
| 360p | 96 kbps | AAC |
| 240p | 64 kbps | MP3 |
Final Thoughts
If audio quality is important, I highly recommend linking to and embedding the HD (720p) version of your videos if available, to take advantage of the 152 or 192 kbps audio. See my post on linking to and embedding HD YouTube videos for details on how to do that.
Related articles:
- Link to a specific time in a YouTube video
- Link directly to and embed HD YouTube videos
- Why YouTube Video Views Get Stuck Around 301
- How To Get YouTube Thumbnail Web Address (URL)