Another DaVinci Resolve Rant, a Brief One This Time
Published: November 26, 2025 • 5 min read
Welcome to Episode 3 of "DaVinci Resolve is out to make me crazy."
(Missed the earlier episodes? Catch up on Episode 1 and Episode 2.)
Yes, we're making it a series because at this point, I'm not sure how long I'll be in beginner's hell with this tool.
What Happened This Time
So, you might ask: "Prisca, what did DaVinci Resolve do to you this time?"
Well, you want to know what I spent the last 15 minutes doing? I spent it re-uploading all the videos that I had previously uploaded to YouTube.
You see, I have this fear of hearing my own voice. Sometimes (actually, most times), when I record a video and upload it to YouTube, I don't rewatch it because I cringe hearing my own voice.
Do you know what this fear cost me?
When I finally took the time to watch one of my videos from YouTube directly, something was off. The video looks great on my computer. Why does it appear slightly blurry on YouTube, even at the highest resolutions? I checked all three videos that I had already recorded, and the same behavior was consistent.
The Culprit: H.265 vs H.264
Now guess what the issue was this time?
I chose the wrong encoding format: H.265, whereas YouTube prefers H.264 videos.
But here is the thing. The 5-hour tutorial I watched said H.265 was the best format for YouTube videos, so I just went with that. However, Google searches confirmed that H.264 is what YouTube actually prefers.
So I had to re-render all three of my videos yesterday and re-upload them to YouTube today. The re-rendering process took a painful 3 hours and slowed down my computer drastically, preventing me from working on other items on my mental to-do list.
A Quick Lesson on Video Encoding
Now, if all the terms I used above confused you, let's do some learning.
When you are done editing a video on DaVinci Resolve, you have to export it to make it available in a format that you can then share across other platforms, like YouTube for instance. This "export" process (called rendering on DaVinci Resolve) encodes your video by packaging it into a file format that computers can read.
When rendering a video, you have to choose configurations for that video. One of these configurations is the encoding format, and it is the only one I'll be talking about here since it is relevant to my rant.
How YouTube Processes Your Video
Once you upload the encoded video to YouTube, YouTube then re-encodes that same video. The re-encoding process basically re-packages the original video you uploaded by rewriting it into a format that is supported by YouTube.
Because YouTube has millions of videos uploaded to it daily, its re-encoding process compresses the video to save space, which means you also lose a tiny bit of quality. YouTube also creates multiple versions for every quality, which is why when you are watching videos, you have the option to choose from a list of video qualities like:
- 1080p version
- 720p version
- 480p version
- 360p version
This is why in the 5-hour video I watched, the creator recommends that you select the highest resolution (4K upscaled at 3840x2160) so that you provide YouTube a higher quality file than needed. When YouTube re-encodes the file, it's going to compress it even more, so starting with 4K means the final 1080p still looks sharp.
That is also why my videos still look better on my computer compared to YouTube.
Why H.264 Over H.265?
I chose the H.265 encoding format for my video, which is actually a more efficient format than H.264 (same quality at smaller file sizes). I guess this is why it was recommended in the 5-hour tutorial.
However, YouTube for some reason prefers H.264 for uploads as it is more universally compatible with YouTube's processing pipeline.
What I'm learning is that decoding and re-encoding H.265 videos is more computationally expensive for YouTube, which is probably why my initial uploads looked bad.
Oh well, this is all still new to me, so I may still misunderstand some of the details. If anyone reading this knows more about it, feel free to reach out to explain more to me.
But since YouTube officially recommends H.264, I'm sticking with that to be safe.
The Silver Lining
Right now, even though I hate the fact that I had to re-export and re-upload the videos, I am grateful for the new knowledge.
I guess this experience will beat out the fear of watching my own videos when I upload them to YouTube. If I had just watched them earlier, I would have caught this issue before uploading all three.
Lesson learned: Watch your own content, even if you cringe.
As always, thanks for reading!