The video we will use will be “ Dire Straits – Money for Nothing 24 Bit Sound 2K Video”. There are numerous ways to test this, but let’s use a free online tool called “YouTube Video Info”. Once a video reaches a certain amount of views and becomes “popular”, Youtube will automatically re-encode a WebM/Opus version of the video, which can be only slightly higher in quality ( 156 vs 126 kbps). Note: You can also try to manually determine the Bitrate of any audio file yourself.

So even if you upload a video with 24/96 lossless audio, Youtube will convert it to 126 kbps AAC in an MP4 container. This is regardless of the audio source format being uploaded because Youtube will automatically re-encode videos to use their format. For Opus, it can be between 56 kbps and 165 kbps. Youtube uses two types of audio formats – AAC ( wrapped in an MP4 container) or Opus in a WebM container.įor AAC, Youtube will play a maximum audio bitrate of around 126 kbps.

What Audio Bitrate does YouTube Stream In?įor starters, Youtube does not play audio at 320kbps, even on the highest video resolution. If you aren’t much of an audiophile, and you don’t care about things like MP3 bitrates, this article isn’t for you – but if you’re someone who frequently uses website converters to download “320kbps” MP3s from Youtube videos, read on to find out why you’re wasting your time.

The problem, however, is that many people looking for “lossless” or “CD-quality” music are misled by what these converters are capable of. Converting Youtube videos to MP3 ( or similar audio format) is a popular way to obtain music, and there are plenty of sites specifically for this purpose.

Youtube to mp3 1080p