Video Export Settings: Codec, Bitrate & File Size Reference
The export settings reference sheet for social video ads — codec and container by platform, a bitrate ladder by resolution, keyframe interval, audio LUFS targets and max file sizes.
A creative can nail the hook, the script and the offer and still underperform because the export itself was wrong — bitrate too low for the motion in the shot, audio mixed too quiet, a keyframe interval that makes the platform's transcoder mangle the file. This sheet is the settings panel: codec, bitrate ladder, keyframes, audio loudness and file size limits in one reference.
Compression artifacts read as low production value, even when they aren't
A video shot well and lit well can still look cheap after export if the bitrate is too low for the amount of motion in the frame — banding in gradients, blocky edges around fast-moving hands or product spins, muddy detail in busy backgrounds. Viewers can't articulate 'this is under-bitrated,' but they register it as lower quality and scroll past faster. The fix isn't a better camera, it's matching your export bitrate to your resolution and motion level, which is a lookup, not a guess.
Codec choice is really a compatibility choice
H.265 compresses smaller than H.264 at equivalent visual quality, but most ad platforms transcode everything on upload anyway, and H.264 High Profile remains the safest universal choice for delivery — it's accepted everywhere without exception, plays back reliably across ad review systems, and avoids the rare but real rejection risk of an unsupported codec. Keep H.265 for archival masters if storage matters, export H.264 for anything you're actually uploading to run as an ad.
Audio loudness is graded on a curve you can't see
Platforms normalize loudness on playback, which means a video mixed too quiet gets turned up (and any noise floor or hiss gets turned up with it) and a video mixed too hot gets turned down, flattening its punch. Mixing to a consistent loudness target — not just 'sounds fine on my headphones' — keeps your ad's actual perceived volume where you intended it, and keeps voiceover intelligible next to a music bed.
How to use the settings below
The locked tables give codec and container by use case, a full bitrate ladder by resolution and motion level, keyframe/GOP settings, audio specs including the loudness target, and a consolidated max-file-size table across platforms. Klip Kanvas renders exports pre-tuned to these targets automatically, so this sheet is mainly for manual edits or when troubleshooting a rejected or soft-looking upload.
5 tables: codec and container by use case, full bitrate ladder by resolution and motion level, keyframe/GOP settings, audio specs and loudness targets, and consolidated max file size by platform.
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