Best Recording Settings for Course Platforms

What resolution, format, and bitrate to record at so your course video passes upload review the first time — based on each platform's published video standards.

Udemy

• Resolution: minimum 720p HD, 16:9 aspect ratio (horizontal). 1080p is recommended for a sharper result on screen-share-heavy lessons.
• Format: H.264 codec is the safest choice for compatibility with Udemy's processing pipeline.
• File size: each video file must be under 4.0 GB — use the storage calculator to check a lesson's estimated size before you hit that ceiling.
• Bitrate: Udemy doesn't publish a hard minimum, but community guidance from their own instructor forums points to roughly 10 Mbps for 1080p as a safe, detail-preserving target.

Always check Udemy's current Video Standards page before a final export — platform requirements are updated periodically.

General rule of thumb across platforms

Teachable, Skillshare, and most other course platforms don't publish bitrate requirements as specific as Udemy's, but they transcode uploads through similar pipelines. Recording at 1080p/30fps with H.264 and a bitrate around 8–10 Mbps is a safe default that satisfies nearly every platform's minimum without producing unnecessarily large files. Use the Recording Storage Calculator to see what that settles out to in gigabytes for your course length.