How to optimize your videos for fast play back

The guidelines on this page will help you understand and optimise your video file sizes to help you best manage your plan allowances.

When you are uploading videos for the web, playback speed is key! The Kourses platform uses super-fast video hosting to ensure your members get the best viewing experience from your video content.

However, you can still help improve your video playback speed. Large video files can slow down your web pages, frustrating viewers and decreasing engagement. This guide will walk you through simple steps to make your videos web-friendly.

Step 1: Understand video formats

Different video formats have different file sizes. Here are some common ones:

• MP4 (H.264): Highly recommended for web use. Offers good quality at smaller file sizes.

• WebM: Great for the web, provides high quality at a lower file size.

• AVI & MOV: Typically larger files, not ideal for the web.

Step 2: Choose the correct resolution

Resolution matters. Higher resolution means a larger file size. For web:

• 4K or higher (3840 x 2160) can be too high for smooth playback on most internet connections.

• 1080p (1920x1080) is usually enough (recommended).

• 720p (1280x720) can be a good balance of speed and quality (recommended).

• Going lower can reduce file size but might affect quality.

Step 3: Compress your video

Video compression is critical. Large video file sizes can reduce the playback speed and quality of your videos. We recommend you use software to quickly compress all of your video content before uploading to the Kourses platform. Tools like:

• Handbrake: Free, user-friendly, and effective for compressing videos without losing much quality.

• Adobe Premiere Pro: Offers more advanced options for professionals.

To use these tools you simply upload your video, select "preset optimized for the web", and compress.

Note: We use Handbrake for all our video content. It's a great, easy-to-use, free tool (highly recommended). 
>> Download Handbrake here

Step 4: Test your video

After compression, we recommend you check the video to ensure the playback quality (99.9% of the time, there is no visual difference, but you have a much smaller file size for your video). 

Conclusion

Optimising video file sizes for the web is crucial for a smooth, user-friendly experience. You can significantly improve your website's performance by understanding formats, choosing the correct resolution, and compressing your video before you upload it to the Kourses platform. Happy uploading!

Note: We can only auto-generate a lesson image from a video if you upload the video to our Kourses hosting. Lesson images cannot be generated from embedded videos from YouTube or Vimeo

We do have a collection of Hub Covers and Lesson Image templates (designed in Canva) you can use in our Branding Kit: https://community.kourses.com/hub/branding-kit