How Long Does It Take for YouTube to Process a Video?

Photo of author

By Talha

Are you wondering how long it takes for your YouTube video to process? Video processing time is dependent on the video’s length, file size, upload speed, and connection strength. Video processing times usually shorten as more people view the video. Let’s take a closer look at the data we have for YouTube Video Processing and what it all means. Here are the complete details regarding the video processing on YouTube.

What is Video Processing?

Video processing is the process of transcoding a video so it can be uploaded to YouTube. Video processing on YouTube depends largely on four factors: file size, connection strength and upload speed, length of the video, and the number of viewers watching the video at any given time.

Video Processing Time:

Video processing time varies between videos but averages around 15 minutes per minute for long-form content.

Generally speaking, shorter videos will take less than two hours to process while longer ones might take anywhere from three hours up to 24 hours or more depending on their quality.

Video Processing and Upload Speed:

Video processing time is directly proportional to the upload speed. For instance, if your video has a 30-minute runtime but you only uploaded it on an upload speed of 0.25 MB/s, then it will take at least 60 minutes for YouTube to process the video because it’s taking double the amount of time (30 minutes) with half as much bandwidth in order for that same quality content.

Video Quality vs File Size:

The size of your file can also affect how fast or slow YouTube processes your video. A less compressed file means more data needs to be processed which translates into longer processing times–the larger the filesize, generally speaking, the greater the processing time.

How Can I Tell if My Video is Done Processing?

You’ll know that your video has finished uploading when you see the following notification in your browser window: ” Video is now ready to view.” Video processing time varies between videos but averages around 15 minutes per minute for long-form content.

Video quality also affects processing speed, a less compressed file means more data needs to be processed which translates into longer processing times, the larger the filesize, generally speaking, the greater the processing time.

Video processing is also dependent on how many people are viewing your video at any given moment so if you’re uploading a long-form content video that isn’t getting much traffic yet expect YouTube to take longer than usual to process these videos since there aren’t enough viewers for YouTube to prioritize these videos with their limited resources.

You can also check this video for further instructions:

Leave a Comment