Trailer Encoding Specifications

Below are our recommended encoding specs for uploading trailers to a B-Side Festival Genius site:

• Video Encoding: trailers should be H.264, encoded between 488kbps and 528kbps total bitrate into an .MP4 or .MOV format. The recommended video bitrate is 400kbps.
• Video Formating: trailers that are 16:9 in aspect ratio and 426×240 are preferred, but 4:3, 320×240 is acceptable. It is important to remove any letterboxing from the trailer before uploading, as our automatic encoding adds its own letterbox. Having letterbox in the original file can result in a black border around all sides of the video.
• Audio Encoding: AAC is recommended, with an audio sample rate of 48,000 and an audio bitrate of 128k.
• Length: Trailer runtime should be no longer than 3 minutes.
• Size: The size limit for uploaded files is 150mb.
• Quality: We encode trailers into a 426×240 MP4 or FLV object. The best way to control the quality of your video is to shrink it to 426×240 yourself with as little compression as possible.

Please note: If your trailer is posted on YouTube, you can skip the uploading step and send the YouTube URL to filmmaker-support@bside.com. We’ll pull the streaming video straight from YouTube and post it on your film’s page.