Guides
Practical guides
Step by step where a procedure exists, and honest about where the answer depends on your footage or on a platform's current rules rather than pretending there is one number that fits everyone.
Practical
How to Keep Your Own Videos Organised
A file naming and folder approach that survives years of footage, and a backup rule that has outlasted every storage medium it was written for.
2 min read
Rights and access
Using the Official Download and Export Features Platforms Provide
A survey of the legitimate ways to save video, from creator-enabled downloads to licensed stock and public domain archives.
2 min read
Rights and access
How to Download Your Own Videos From Social Platforms
Every major platform has an official way to get your own uploads back. Here is how that generally works, and why it is the right route.
2 min read
Practical
Choosing Video Settings for Social Platforms
How to pick a resolution, frame rate and aspect ratio for online video, and why you should always check the platform's own current specification rather than a list on someone's blog.
2 min read
Compression
How to Reduce Video Size for Sharing
Getting a video under an email, chat or upload limit without a series of failed guesses, and what to do when it simply will not fit.
2 min read
Compression
How to Compress a Video Without Losing Too Much Quality
Where the quality actually goes when a video is compressed, which settings buy the most, and the order to change them in.
3 min read
Formats
Converting Between MP4, MOV and WebM: A Practical Guide
What a container actually is, why the file extension does not tell you the codec, and how to convert between formats without quietly ruining the quality.
4 min read
Fundamentals
Video Resolution Guide: Choosing a Size That Makes Sense
What resolution actually measures, why 4K costs four times as much as 1080p rather than twice, and how to pick a size for what you are making.
3 min read