Do large uploads play slower on YouTube?

[tkingdoll]

I'm having a debate with a friend. He claims that a 50mb video clip will play more slowly (and what he calls 'jittery') on YouTube than a 5mb video clip of the same length.

I'm skeptical, but willing to learn. Google is being no help.

Anyone?

[wahrheit]

No. YouTube converts all uploads to their current Flash Video (FLV) format. That conversion doesn't give a hoot about the original file size.

Of course, uploading a very low quality video clip will also result in a smaller file size, since there is less compression and original information involved. So, it might happen that some crappy mobile phone video loads faster than max quality stuff (currently, YouTube uses 320 x 240 pixels at 30 frames per second).

However, "loading faster", i.e. a smaller download size, has nothing in itself to do with playback performance.

What does he mean by "it plays more slowly"? Most certainly not the frame rate, I guess.

[tkingdoll]

Thanks :)

[JWideman]

The size of youtube videos is directly related to their length, since they are converted to a common format. The same video in two formats - one heavily compressed and one uncompressed - will both be about the same size after uploading.