Reading the results list row by row

The list is an inventory of one page

Each row stands for a real file sitting on the source's servers. Nothing in the list is produced by us, and nothing is a description of the same file written twice.

That is why two addresses from the same site return different numbers of rows. A publisher who uploaded one encoding gives you one row. A publisher whose platform re-encodes every upload four ways gives you four.

Each row is one published file from the address you pasted: height, size, and format. The order is an inventory, not a ranking of taste. Pick by how you will play or edit the file, not by which line sits first.

Audio-only rows appear when the page publishes a separate soundtrack. That is expected on some hosts and useful when you only need sound.

The height figure at the front of a row

The number followed by a p, such as 480p or 1080p, counts the rows of pixels from the bottom of the picture to the top. Width follows from the shape of the video, so a tall phone recording and a wide desktop recording labelled 1080p are different widths.

Height is the closest single figure to what people mean by quality, and it is a ceiling rather than a promise. Playing a 480p file on a large screen stretches those pixels; it does not add any.

The size figure beside it

Megabytes measure the file, not the video. A long recording at a modest height frequently outweighs a short clip at the top height, because size follows length and bitrate together.

This figure is measured before you download rather than estimated. It is the number to check against your free space, against the 150 MB ceiling on free use, and against any limit on how you plan to send the file onward.

The format label on the end of a row

The short word at the end, such as MP4 or WEBM, names the container the file is packed in. It says what will open the file rather than how good it looks.

MP4 opens on phones, televisions, and editing software with nothing added. WEBM opens in browsers and in most modern players. Where both labels appear at the same height, the container is the tiebreak and the picture is the same.

Why the rows sit in the order they do

The list runs from the largest file down. The top row is the most complete version the source published, and each row beneath it drops either height, bitrate, or both.

Reading the order as a ranking is the common mistake. It is a ladder, and the correct rung depends on what the file is for. Take the top row when nothing but the full version will do, and expect it to be the row that meets the free size ceiling first.

Rows that carry no picture

An audio-only row appears when the source publishes the sound as its own file. It shows a size and no height, because there is no picture in it to measure.

Those rows are small next to any video row. Take one when the words or the music are the point, and take a video row when you need to see what is happening on screen.

Picking a row by what the file is for

Match the row to the job rather than to the list. Four jobs cover almost every visit.

Keep this tab open until the browser finishes writing the file for downloader video. A prepared file only waits a short time before it expires from the temporary store.

• Watching once on a phone: a middle row at 480p or 720p looks the same in your hand and costs a fraction of the megabytes.
• Keeping the video properly: the top row, so the copy you archive is the most complete one published.
• Sending it to somebody: the largest row that fits under the limit of the channel you are sending through.
• Cutting it in an editor: the top row in MP4 where one exists, because every edit works from the pixels you started with.

Related pages

• How resolution and bitrate differ
• What the MP4 label on a row means
• Taking the audio-only row instead
• The 2160p row and what it weighs