Content ID for music partners
YouTube’s Content ID system enables music partners to easily identify and manage their music on YouTube. YouTube scans uploaded videos against a database of music that you’ve submitted. When content in a user-uploaded video matches a work that you own, you get to decide whether to monetize the video, block it, or track it.
To use Content ID, you create assets in YouTube’s rights management system. Each asset represents a piece of intellectual property. You can deliver three types of music assets:
- Music video assets
- Sound recording assets
- Composition assets
YouTube also recognizes relationships between these assets. A music video asset may embed a sound recording asset, and a sound recording may embed a composition asset.
To create assets, you upload the media files and their associated metadata using spreadsheet templates or the Content and Rights Administration XML feed.
Using the references associated with your assets, Content ID identifies user-uploaded videos that include your copyrighted work and makes a claim that asserts your ownership of content within the video.
When one of your assets claims ownership of a user-uploaded video, YouTube applies that asset’s policy to the video. In cases where both a sound recording asset and its embedded composition asset have different policies, YouTube applies the most restrictive of the two policies; see Which policy applies? for more details. (If more than one partner claims ownership, you’ll need to resolve the conflict before any policy applies.)
Encoding specifications for music videos
The media files you deliver to YouTube for music videos must conform to these specifications.
Audio Profile
| Attribute | Specification |
|---|---|
| Codec | FLAC Linear PCM |
| Sample rate | 44.1kHz recommended. Higher sample rates are accepted but not required (for example, 48kHz or 96kHz). |
| Bit depth | 24-bit recommended, 16-bit acceptable |
| Channels | 2 (stereo) |
Although it is not recommended, YouTube accepts compressed audio. YouTube transcodes from the delivered format; audio quality is much better when transcoded from a lossless format compared to re-compressing a lossy audio format.
If you must deliver compressed audio, use these specifications:
- Codec: AAC-LC
- Sample Rate: 44.1Khz
- Bit Rate: 320kbps or higher for 2 channels (higher is always better; 256 kbps acceptable)
- Channels: 2 (stereo)
Video Profile
| Attribute | Specification |
|---|---|
| Containers | .mp4 .mov |
| Codec | H.264 |
| Profile | High |
| Framerate | 23.98, 24, 25, 29.97, 30 |
| Bitrate | SD (fewer than 720 lines) – 15Mbps 720 lines – 50Mbps 1080 lines – 60Mbps |
| Resolutions | 1.33 (4:3) – 720×480, 1440×1080, 720×576 (PAL) 1.78 (16:9) – 720×404, 720×576 (PAL 16:9), 854×480, 1280×720, 1920×1080 (cropped content that is wider than 1.78 may deviate from these resolutions – see notes about matting for non-standard aspect ratios) |
| Pixel Aspect Ratio | SD: Anamorphic (non-square) pixels will be accepted, but Pixel Aspect Ratio (pasp) flag must be set to 16:9 or 4:3. HD: Square pixels only (no anamorphic content) |
| Scan type | Progressive Native framerate content should be deinterlaced. Telecined content should be inverse telecined to original framerate.Note: Content with blended frames or interlacing artifacts will be rejected. |
| GOP Structure | IBBP (M=3, GOP Length not to exceed ½ of framerate) |
| Color Space | 4:2:2 (preferred) 4:2:0 |
| Matting | 16:9 frame size delivered with letterboxing will be accepted. If content contains pillarboxing (black on left and right), windowboxing (black on all sides), or is 4:3 LTBX, then content should be cropped to active pixel area only. |
| Notes | Edit lists are not allowed as these cause loss of A/V sync. moov atom must be present and at the front of the file. |
Video Profile
| Attribute | Specification |
|---|---|
| Containers | MPEG-2 Transport Stream (.mpg, .mpeg, .ts) |
| Codec | MPEG-2 |
| Profile | SD: Main@Main HD: 422@High |
| Framerate | 23.98, 24, 25, 29.97, 30 |
| Bitrate | SD (fewer than 720 lines): 50Mbps HD (720 lines or higher): 80Mbps |
| Resolutions | 1.33 (4:3) – 720×480, 720×576 (PAL only), 1440×1080 1.78 (16:9) – 720×404, 720×576 (PAL 16:9 only with anamorphic flag set), 854×480, 1280×720, 1920×1080 (cropped content that is wider than 1.78 may deviate from these resolutions – see notes about matting for non-standard aspect ratios) |
| Pixel Aspect Ratio | Square pixels only (no anamorphic content). |
| Scan type | Progressive Native framerate content should be deinterlaced. Telecined content should be inverse telecined to original framerate.Note: Content with blended frames or interlacing artifacts will be rejected. |
| GOP Structure | IBBP (M=3, GOP Length not to exceed ½ of framerate) |
| Color Space | 4:2:2 (preferred) If 4:2:2 color space is not available, please use 4:2:0. |
| Matting | 16:9 frame size delivered with letterboxing will be accepted. If content contains pillarboxing (black on left and right), windowboxing (black on all sides), or is 4:3 LTBX, then content should be cropped to active pixel area only. |
YouTube Music Key
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