Periodically I get asked how to get videos uploaded to YouTube to look better. The easiest possible way to do this is to simply capture/import and export your video file as 640×480 resolution for great video quality.

Here’s a quick tutorial for those who use Windows Movie Maker:

Import at 640×480

If you are importing from a camcorder, you can skip this step as you are already importing at 640×480 or more.

If you are capturing from a webcam, check your capture settings. It’s most likely set to 320×240. See if you have the option to bump that up to 640×480. (Note: Some webcams don’t have this option but yours might.)

If you are using screen capture software such as CamStudio, make sure you are capturing an area that is at least 640×480 in size.

Export at 640×480

When exporting your movie to WMV format, you will first see this screen:

(click for full size)

Click the link for Show more choices…

(click for full size)

Select Other settings and choose Video for LAN (768 Kbps). This will render a 640×480 video at 30 frames per second. The resulting WMV file will look better when uploaded to YouTube.