Uploader FAQ

• Is there a Limit to the File Size I can upload to Crackle?
• What File Formats Do You Accept?
• What are the computer system requirements for the Desktop Uploader?
• How Do I Ensure My Videos Look Great on Crackle?
• What Camera Settings Should I Use When I Shoot My Video?
• What Settings Should I Use When Editing?
• What Resolution Should I Use?
• What video quality and bitrate should I upload to Crackle?
• What Frame Rate Should I Use?
• What is Deinterlacing and Why Should I Use It?
• Why Hasn't My Upload Appeared on Crackle?

Is there a Limit to the File Size I can upload to Crackle?

No. There is not a file size limit for the standard Crackle web uploader or the desktop uploader.

What File Formats Do You Accept?

Crackle accepts most common video file formats, including the following file types:

• Windows Media (.WMV and .ASF)
• QuickTime (.MOV)
• MPEG-1 and MPEG 2 (.MPG)
• MPEG-4 (.MP4 but not .M4V)
• Mobile formats 3GPP and 3GPP2 (.3GP)
• Many types of AVI, including DivX

What are the computer system requirements for the Desktop Uploader?

The Crackle Desktop Uploader requires the Windows operating system (98 through Vista) and The Microsoft .NET Framework version 2.0. The Microsoft .NET Framework version 2.0. takes up 280 MB of hard drive space on 32 bit systems and 610 MB on 64 bit systems.

How Do I Ensure My Videos Look Great on Crackle?

To ensure your videos look as good as possible on Crackle we recommend you upload either of the following video formats:

1. QuickTime (.mov)
   Video Size: 720x480 or the native size of your video.
   Video Compression Type: AVC-H.264, Data Rate: 2Mbps
   Audio Compression Type: AAC/44kHz/128 Kbps
2. Windows Media (.wmv)
   Video Size: 720x480 or the native size of your video.
   Video Compression Type: Windows Media 9, Data Rate: 2 Mbps
   Audio Compression Type: Windows Media 9 Standard/44kHz/128 Kbps

What Camera Settings Should I Use When I Shoot My Video?

If you're shooting live action set your video camera to "widescreen" or "16:9" — the Crackle player is designed to playback widescreen videos.

What Settings Should I Use When Editing?

Set your editor to "TV" or "broadcast" or "highest" quality and edit at the editing software's highest resolution setting. Although it may take up more room on your hard drive, the extra quality will ensure better online viewing.

What Resolution Should I Use?

Crackle recommends that you use the following frame sizes:

• Live Action Videos: 720x480 for standard definition video (which is the same for 4:3 and 16:9 — the "pixel aspect ratio" will be different, but your editor should take care of that)
• Animated Videos: 854x480 for 16:9, or 640x480 for 4:3. (unlike video cameras, animation on a computer always uses square pixels)
• High Definition: The Crackle player has a high definition mode that allows clips to be presented at "near-HD" resolution. If you have an HD camera and enough hard drive space, try working in High Definition, either 1280x720 ("720p") or 1920x1080 (1080i or 1080p). HDV and AVCHD are two inexpensive HD formats that anyone can work with.
• Progressive / Interlaced: If your editing software provides a choice, use "progressive" rather than "interlaced".
• Frame rate: In general, the frame rate will be 30 frames per second (actually 29.97, but who's counting).

What video quality and bitrate should I upload to Crackle?

Recommended Compression:
For short videos less than about five minutes, we recommend that you upload videos at the highest quality possible. For longer videos we recommend a data rate of 2Mbps or about 15 MB of disk space per minute of footage.

If you shot your video with a DV or HDV camera and edited at native resolution, then upload a DV or HDV compressed QuickTime or AVI file, at the native resolution (e.g. 720x480 for SD or 1440x1080 for HDV).

The higher quality source file you upload the better your video will look on Crackle and Crackle’s distribution network where it may appear on devices like Sony Bravia high definition TVs.

What Frame Rate Should I Use?

When you compress your video leave the frame size and frame rate the same as your original editing project or source footage. For example, for NTSC video this should be 720x480 and 29.97 frames per second (for PAL, it's 25 fps).

For widescreen (16:9) videos the web is more flexible than your old TV. If your editing application or animation program understands widescreen, when you make a version for upload, make the video itself widescreen — don't letterbox your video inside a 4:3 (conventional TV) window. Widescreen (16:9) sizes include 1280x720, 960x540, 720x406, 640x360, etc. Letterbox sizes are 720x540, 640x480, etc.

Letterboxed (bad!)	Native Widescreen (good!)

What is Deinterlacing and Why Should I Use It?

If you shoot video with a camera, most formats will be interlaced, a system that dates back to the 1950s which involves showing every other horizontal scan line in the picture first, and then "interlacing" the other half of the scan lines a moment (usually 1/60th of a second) later.

Although necessary for TV, interlacing looks bad on the web. When you output a version of your video to upload to Crackle, be sure to choose the option in your editing or compression application to De-interlace the footage. This will avoid the "combed" look in your video.

Why Hasn’t My Upload Appeared on Crackle?
There are two reasons why your uploaded video may not be available on Crackle:

- Converting Your Video for Distribution Takes Time
After you successfully upload a video to Crackle, we need to convert it to the different formats delivered to end-users. Depending on the time of day and how busy our servers are, this can take up to a few hours. If your video isn’t available right away, take a break and check back in a little while.

- Videos Containing Copyrighted Material If you upload videos containing pictures, video, corporate logos or music from movies, TV shows, artists, photographers or commercial record labels we cannot distribute it due to copyright law. If your video doesn’t get posted on the site, make sure to remove anything in it that was created by someone else and try again.

If several hours have passed since you’ve uploaded your video and it has not appeared on Crackle contact our support team.