Twitter Video to be a 'Fullblown YouTube Competitor'

Twitter's upcoming video service will be a 'fullblown YouTube competitor', according to details discovered by Daniel Raffel.

Raffel managed to find the full End User License Agreement for Twitter Video in their JavaScript. A FAQ also offers more details about the service.

Twitter Video will support "mp4" and "mov" with an aspect ratio of 16:9, up to 10 minutes long. The company says it wants the service to go beyond what you can do with Vine.


“Aside from just watching video more easily on Twitter, you should be able to record, edit and share your own videos natively on Twitter too,” says Kevin Weil, VP of product. “Alongside short looping Vine videos, we think you’ll have fun sharing what’s happening in your world through native video.”

What video formats are supported?
For video upload, we currently support "mp4" and "mov". Videos should have an aspect ratio of 16:9 and should be encoded using the "High Profile" h.264 video codec and the AAC (Low Complexity) audio codec.

The source video bitrate should be as high as possible. We recommend a video bit rate of at least 5000k bits, and the audio bitrate should be 128k.

Frames per second should be preserved as per the original source material.


Can I specify the thumbnail that is shown to users?
Yes, you can either select a specific frame of the video to be used as the thumbnail, or you can upload your own. Updating the thumbnail can be done by clicking on the "Change" button on the Video Details page.

What image formats are supported for thumbnail upload?
For thumbnail upload, we currently support PNG and JPEG images.

Is there a video size limit?
At this time we do not have a file size limit when uploading. As such, we are encouraging partners to use the highest resolution source video, to create the most optimal user experience. However, keep in mind that the larger the source file, the longer it will take to upload and process.

Is there a video length limit?
Videos uploaded to Twitter can be up to 10 minutes long.

The video service is set to be launched in the first half of 2015. Please follow iClarified on Twitter, Facebook, or RSS for updates.

Read More [via TechCrunch]