Profiles

A video profile is a collection of common video settings (size, frame rate, aspect ratio). Profiles are used during editing, previewing, and exporting to provide a quick way to switch between common combinations of these settings.

If you often use the same profile, you can set a default profile: Edit→Preferences→Preview.

Project Profile

The project profile is used when previewing your project and editing. The default project profile is HD 720p 30fps. It is best practice to always switch to your target profile before you begin editing. For example, if you are targeting 1080p 30fps, switch to that profile before you begin editing your project. For a full list of included profiles see Profile List.

#	Name	Description
1	Title Bar	The title bar of OpenShot displays the current profile
2	Profile Button	Launch the profiles dialog
3	Choose Profile	Select a profile for editing and preview

Choose Profile Dialog

#	Name	Description
1	Filter / Search	Filter the available profiles by typing a few characters (i.e. FHD, 720p, 16:9, etc…)
2	Selected Profile	Click on the desired profile, and then the OK button. You can also double click a profile to select it.
3	Filtered Count	Count of filtered profiles
4	Accept Profile	Click the OK button to switch to the selected profile.

Export Profile

The export profile always defaults to your current project profile, but can be changed to target different profiles.

#	Name	Description
1	Choose Profile	Select an export profile from a dropdown. This list is sorted from largest resolution at the top, smallest resolution at the bottom.
2	Search Profiles	Open Profile dialog to filter and search for an export profile, which can sometimes be much quicker to find a specific profile.

Custom Profile

Although OpenShot has more than 400 profiles (Profile List) included by default, you can also create your own custom profiles. Create a new text file in the ~/.openshot_qt/profiles/ or C:\Users\USERNAME\.openshot_qt\profiles folder. Use the following text as your template (i.e. copy and paste this into the new file):

description=Custom Profile Name
frame_rate_num=30000
frame_rate_den=1001
width=1280
height=720
progressive=1
sample_aspect_num=1
sample_aspect_den=1
display_aspect_num=16
display_aspect_den=9

Profile Property	Description
description	The friendly name of the profile (this is what OpenShot displays in the user interface)
frame_rate_num	The frame rate numerator. All frame rates are expressed as fractions. For example, `30 FPS == 30/1`.
frame_rate_den	The frame rate denominator. All frame rates are expressed as fractions. For example, `29.97 FPS == 30,000/1001`.
width	The number of horizontal pixels in the image. By reversing the values for width and height, you can create a vertical profile.
height	The number of vertical pixels in the image
progressive	`(0 or 1)` If 1, both even and odd rows of pixels are used. If 0, only odd or even rows of pixels are used.
sample_aspect_num	The numerator of the SAR (sample/pixel shape aspect ratio), `1:1` ratio would represent a square pixel, `2:1` ratio would represent a `2x1` rectangle pixel shape, etc…
sample_aspect_den	The denominator of the SAR (sample/pixel shape aspect ratio)
display_aspect_num	The numerator of the DAR (display aspect ratio), `(width/height) X (sample aspect ratio)`. This is the final ratio of the image displayed on screen, reduced to the smallest fraction possible (common ratios are 16:9 for wide formats, 4:3 for legacy television formats).
display_aspect_den	The denominator of the DAR (display aspect ratio)

Once you restart OpenShot, you will see your custom profile appear in the list of Profiles.

Preset List

OpenShot includes a large list of common profiles and their associated video export settings (video codec, audio codec, audio channels, audio sample rate, etc…), which targets specific websites and devices.

All Formats

AVI (h.264)

AVI (mpeg2)

AVI (mpeg4)

GIF (animated)

MKV (h.264 dx)

MKV (h.264 nv)

MKV (h.264 qsv)

MKV (h.264 va)

MKV (h.264 videotoolbox)

MKV (h.264)

MKV (h.265)

MOV (h.264)

MOV (mpeg2)

MOV (mpeg4)

MP3 (audio only)

MP4 (AV1 rav1e)

MP4 (AV1 svt)

MP4 (HEVC va)

MP4 (Xvid)

MP4 (h.264 dx)

MP4 (h.264 nv)

MP4 (h.264 qsv)

MP4 (h.264 va)

MP4 (h.264 videotoolbox)

MP4 (h.264)

MP4 (h.265)

MP4 (mpeg4)

MPEG (mpeg2)

OGG (theora/flac)

OGG (theora/vorbis)

WEBM (vp9)

WEBM (vp9) lossless

WEBM (vpx)

WEBP (vp9 va)

Device

Apple TV

Chromebook

Nokia nHD

Xbox 360

Web

Flickr-HD

Instagram

Metacafe

Picasa

Twitter

Vimeo

Vimeo-HD

Wikipedia

YouTube HD

YouTube HD (2K)

YouTube HD (4K)

YouTube HD (8K)

YouTube Standard

DVD

DVD-NTSC

DVD-PAL

Blu-Ray/AVCHD

AVCHD Disks

Profile List

OpenShot includes a large list of common profiles.

Definitions

Profile Name: This is a short, friendly name for a video profile (FHD 1080p 30 fps, for example)
FPS: Frames Per Second
DAR: Display Aspect Ratio (i.e. 1920:1080 reduces to 16:9 aspect ratio)
SAR: Sample Aspect Ratio (i.e. 1:1 ratio == square pixel, 2:1 horizontal rectangular pixel). The SAR directly affects the display aspect ratio. For example, a 4:3 video can be displayed as 16:9, if it uses rectangular pixels. However, rectangular pixels will cause the final display width to be adjusted.
PAR: Pixel Aspect Ratio (identical to SAR - but some people prefer this term instead)
SAR Adjusted Width: This is the width of the final display image, taking SAR (i.e. non-square pixels) into account
Interlaced: Display alternating lines of the video image (odd lines, even lines), mostly used by analog broadcasting
NTSC: NTSC is an analog TV color system used mostly in America (usually 29.97 fps)
PAL: PAL is an analog TV color system used in Europe, Australia, and much of the rest of the world (usually 25 fps)
UHD: Ultra High Definition
QHD: Quad High Definition
FHD: Full High Definition
HD: High Definition (usually defined as any resolution at equal or greater than 1280x720 pixels)
SD: Standard Definition (usually defined as any resolution smaller than 1280x720 pixels)