Best Format to Download YouTube Videos for Editing

What is the best format for editing YouTube footage?#

The best format to download a YouTube video for editing is an intraframe codec (ProRes or DNxHR) in a .mov. An intraframe file stores every frame as a complete picture, so your editor decodes one frame to show one frame, and scrubbing stays light.

YouTube does not serve that. The streams are long-GOP video (H.264, VP9 or AV1) built for playback, and B-ROLL’s MP4, MKV and WEBM options keep those streams as they are. Pick ProRes or DNx in B-ROLL instead: the app downloads the best video and audio into an MKV master, then converts it with ffmpeg into a .mov of the same name. Resolution and frame rate stay the same, and the master is deleted once the conversion succeeds.

Ema Zamboni, the video editor who built B-ROLL, cuts YouTube videos in DaVinci Resolve Studio on Windows 11. On that timeline, 4K60 AV1 footage downloaded from YouTube was heavy to play back, and AV1 or VP9 downloads crashed Resolve at times. B-ROLL’s automatic ProRes and DNxHR conversion was built to solve exactly that problem.

Which format fits which editing goal?#

For timeline work, choose ProRes or DNx; choose MP4, MKV or WEBM only when you keep YouTube’s original stream on purpose. The decision table maps each editing goal, machine and editing app to the B-ROLL setting, the file you get and the reason. Menu names in bold are the labels in the app.

Picking between the two edit codecs is a smaller decision than picking one of them over MP4. ProRes vs DNxHR for editing compares them side by side. The rest of the formats pages live in codecs and formats for editing YouTube footage.

Container or codec: what is the difference?#

A container is the file wrapper (.mov, .mp4, .mkv, .webm) that holds video, audio and subtitle streams; a codec is the compression method used inside it. The file extension names only the container, so two MP4 files can hold completely different codecs.

B-ROLL’s MP4 shows why the difference matters. With yt-dlp’s default ranking, the MP4 usually carries AV1 or VP9 video with Opus audio, not the H.264 and AAC the extension suggests. The yt-dlp README documents the order: av01 ranks above vp9, which ranks above h264. B-ROLL has no codec setting, so an MP4 download never guarantees H.264.

The ProRes and DNx options produce a different pairing: a .mov container with ProRes or DNxHR video and uncompressed 16-bit PCM audio, first video and first audio track only. MOV vs MP4 vs MKV vs WEBM for video editing covers what each wrapper can and cannot carry into an editing app.

Codec choice drives the editing experience far more than the wrapper. H.264, VP9 and AV1 are long-GOP codecs: most frames store only the changes from their neighbors, so the editor decodes a whole group of frames to show one. Why H.264 and AV1 are hard to edit explains the decode work behind a stuttering timeline.

What does YouTube actually serve?#

As of September 2026, a YouTube download contains long-GOP H.264, VP9 or AV1 video with lossy Opus or AAC audio. The codec depends on the video, the resolution you pick and yt-dlp’s ranking, and none of the three is an editing codec.

The table lists the streams a download can contain, where each one usually shows up on YouTube, and the bit depth it carries. Bitrates are left out on purpose: they vary per video, and B-ROLL shows the measured value on every file.

YouTube’s own help page backs two of those rows. The recommended upload encoding settings ask for H.264 video at 4:2:0 in an MP4, and say that viewing new 4K uploads in 4K needs a browser or device that supports VP9.

Support in editing apps is a separate question from smooth playback. Blackmagic Design’s supported codec list for DaVinci Resolve 20 lists AV1 and VP9 decoding on Windows in MOV, MP4 and MKV, and has no WebM entry at all. A codec that imports can still play back slowly, which is the problem Ema hit with 4K60 AV1.

B-ROLL shows the real bitrate and resolution of every file on its card but not the codec name. See the real bitrate and resolution of YouTube files explains how those values are measured. YouTube codecs explained: H.264 vs VP9 vs AV1 goes deeper into each codec.

Does transcoding YouTube footage to ProRes add quality?#

No. A transcode keeps what the stream has; it cannot add resolution, bit depth or detail. YouTube’s encode already decided how much picture information exists, and ProRes or DNxHR only stores that information in a form that is easier to edit.

What a transcode adds is editing performance. Apple describes ProRes codecs as built for multistream, real-time editing, and says ProRes 422 HQ stays visually lossless through many generations of decoding and re-encoding (Apple Support: About Apple ProRes). You trade disk space for a timeline that scrubs, plays and renders without decoding long-GOP groups.

The cost is file size. Apple’s approximate data rate for ProRes 422 HQ at 1920 x 1080 and 29.97 fps is 220 Mbps, which is 1.65 GB per minute (220 Mbps x 60 s / 8 bits per byte / 1000). A bigger file is not a better picture: the extra megabytes hold the same YouTube image in a less compressed form.

A transcode can make things worse only when it drops below the source or changes the frame. B-ROLL avoids both. The app keeps resolution and frame rate, and picks the lightest tier whose reference data rate, scaled to the video’s frame size and frame rate, is at least 10 times the source bitrate. The code comment behind that rule says an intraframe codec is visually transparent at 10 times a source’s bitrate, so any tier higher only wastes disk.

For a 1080p 30 fps source measured at 8 Mbps, that rule picks ProRes 422 LT. Apple lists LT at 102 Mbps for 1080p 29.97, which is 0.77 GB per minute (102 Mbps x 60 s / 8 / 1000), less than half the HQ size for the same picture. The tier rule in full is on the ProRes and DNxHR download page.

Conversion takes time. B-ROLL runs one conversion at a time on all CPU cores, in its own queue, so the next download starts while the previous file converts.

How do bit depth and chroma affect the format choice?#

YouTube SDR streams are 8-bit 4:2:0, and converting them to a 10-bit 4:2:2 codec does not turn them into 10-bit 4:2:2 footage. The container gains precision; the picture keeps what the stream had.

Bit depth and chroma still matter for the file you pick. B-ROLL’s ProRes is always 10-bit 4:2:2, at every tier from Proxy to HQ, which matches Apple’s description of the ProRes 422 family. B-ROLL’s DNxHR LB, SQ and HQ are 8-bit 4:2:2, and DNxHR HQX at 10-bit is used only when the source itself is 10-bit.

The 10-bit container earns its space when you render graded or composited shots back to an intermediate, not for the downloaded picture itself. If you plan heavy grading, keying or round trips between apps, ProRes keeps those renders at 10 bits. For straight cutting of 8-bit sources, DNxHR at 8 bits is enough.

HDR is the one case where a YouTube stream is truly 10-bit. By default yt-dlp prefers HDR streams, and B-ROLL applies no tone mapping, so an HDR video arrives as HDR: DNx gets HQX, ProRes stays 10-bit, and your timeline’s color management has to handle the HDR transfer. 8-bit vs 10-bit YouTube footage covers banding, chroma subsampling and when the difference shows.

When is MP4 or MKV the better choice?#

MP4 or MKV is the better choice when you want YouTube’s original stream, a small file and no conversion wait, and your editor handles AV1 or VP9 well. Short social cuts, reference copies and archives are the usual cases.

MP4 suits a quick cut from a few short clips in a light editor, as long as that editor reads the codec inside. B-ROLL’s MP4 downloads also carry embedded metadata (title, uploader, date and URL) when Save credits (attribution) for each download is on, which ProRes and DNx files do not. The .credits.txt file next to the download is written for every format while that option is on, as long as B-ROLL can read the video’s metadata; when that lookup fails, no credits file is written.

MKV suits an archive. With Subtitles set to Embedded, B-ROLL muxes every chosen language into the MKV as SRT tracks with language tags, so one file holds the untouched stream and its captions. B-ROLL skips embedding when the video title contains square brackets and leaves the .srt files next to the video instead. Convert later if the footage ever goes on a timeline.

WEBM is the one to avoid for editing. It holds the same VP9 or AV1 video with Opus audio, and the Resolve 20 codec list has no WebM entry. Keep WEBM for reference viewing in a browser or VLC.

The general advice still holds: an H.264 MP4 is easy for most editing software to import. B-ROLL cannot promise one: it has no codec setting and never re-encodes MP4 downloads, so the MP4 holds whatever stream yt-dlp ranks first. When the footage goes into Premiere Pro and After Effects or DaVinci Resolve, the edit-ready answer is ProRes or DNx.