"I have some video files in my Windows 10 computer and I would like to upload those video files to YouTube. However, I kept receiving a "invalid file format error" message when uploading videos to YouTube. Can you help out? Thanks!"

As a matter of fact, uploading videos to YouTube is an easy task as long as the video format is accepted by YouTube. Thus, it is necessary for you to make sure beforehand whether your video format is on the list of YouTube supported formats. If yes, you can move on to the video uploading process. Instead, you need to convert the video to YouTube supported format first and then you will have access to upload the video to YouTube next. It is easy for you to upload videos to YouTube with the helpful solutions coming after.

Part 1: YouTube Supported File Formats

As is known to us all, YouTube is the largest online video sharing site in the world, and it is very common and popular for users to upload video to YouTube. During video uploading to YouTube, chances are that you run into video format incompatibility. In order to smoothly upload a video to YouTube, we need to take a look at file formats supported by YouTube.

Here comes the formats list that would be so much helpful. And you should make sure that you are using one of the following formats when uploading video to YouTube:

  1. MOV
  2. MPEG4
  3. MP4
  4. AVI
  5. WMV
  6. MPEGPS
  7. FLV
  8. 3GPP
  9. WebM
images

If the video you are willing to share on YouTube is not in the list above, you'd better convert your video to any one of those formats with a professional video converter before you start uploading the video to YouTube.

Part 2: Convert Video to YouTube Supported Video Format with Leawo Video Converter

There are so many video converters that have access to convert video files to YouTube supported format, among which the powerful and professional video converter and online free video converter would be the most popular and effective solutions. And here come the instructions of the most powerful and prevailing video converters to guide you convert any video to YouTube.

1. Professional Leawo Video Converter to convert video to YouTube

Leawo Video Converter is a professional media converter software program to help you convert video and audio files of more than 180 formats. As a professional media converter, Leawo Video Converter could convert video as well as audio between most formats like MKV, MP4, AVI, FLV, MOV, MP3, AAC, WMV, 3GP, etc., for multiple platforms and devices including iOS devices, Android devices, smartphones, tablets, etc. With this program, you are able to convert any video to online services, including convert MOV to YouTube, upload video to Instagram and so on. What's more, it allows you to select subtitles and audio tracks from source video files, and even enables you to add external subtitles in language preferred.

Download and install Leawo Video Converter on your computer, and then follow the guide below to convert video to YouTube supported video format for video uploading.

Guide on how to convert video to YouTube supported video format:

Step 1: Import source video files

import-source-video-file

On the main interface of Leawo Video Converter, click "Add Video" button on the sub-menu to load your source video files. You are allowed to batch convert video files, therefore you can import as many video files as you need into Leawo Video Converter.

Step 2: Set YouTube video output format

set-youtube-video-as-output-format

Click the drop-down box next to the "Add Photo" button. On the drop-down list, select "Change" option. Then on the popup Profile window, select a YouTube supported video such as "MP4" from "Format" column as output format.

set-detailed-parameters

Note: If you need, you could click the "Edit" button on the drop-down profile setting box to adjust video and audio parameters like video codec, aspect ratio, frame rate, resolution, audio codec, bit rate, channel, sample rate, etc.

Step 3: Convert video to YouTube

convert-video-to-youtube

Click the big green "Convert" button on the sub-menu bar next to the format setting drop-down box. Then, on the popup sidebar, set output directory. After setting output directory, click the "Convert" button right below. Leawo Video Converter would start to convert video to YouTube compatible video format immediately.

Video guide on how to use Leawo Video Converter:

2. How to convert video to YouTube with online video converter

Surely, Leawo video converter is an excellent and user-friendly video converting program. However,if you prefer converting video to YouTube for free, you can also try online video converter. Among so many online video converters, the online app Video Converter Online would be one of the most popular. It allows you to upload files up to 2Gb in size while other online converter only allows you to convert video files up to 100Mb in size. Besides, the app supports more than 300 video formats, including MP4, AVI, MPEG, MOV, FLV, MP3, M4A, etc. You can convert M4A to AMR, so does MP4 to MOV, and more. In order to guarantee the security of your file, the files uploaded will be automatically deleted a few hours after you have converted video to YouTube to make sure that you are the only one who has access to your video files. Now follow the easy steps to make it.

Step 1. Upload your video files to the app. Click Open File to browse your file folder and choose the video you are going to convert to YouTube. It will be uploaded to the app soon or slow according to the internet connection speed.
Step 2. Choose Output Format. The default output format is MP4 that is supported by YouTube. If you prefer other formats, you can also choose one that is compatible with YouTube. You can also choose the resolution and make some settings for video/audio codec.
Step 3. Start Converting. Click the Convert button to start converting video to MP4. And it will work and cost some time. The working speed is depending on the size of the source video as well as the network.
Step 4. Download the converted video. When the conversion process is completed, the app will generate a link for you to download the converted video.

Download the converted video.

Part 3: Compare the Solutions

Obviously, you would have been an expert in converting video to YouTube supported formats with the help of the instructions mentioned above. The two solutions recommended here are both available for you to convert video to MP4 as well as hundreds of video formats. And they have their own special features. The table content below is for distinguishing the two solutions so that you will lean more about them and make a proper choice to get one to upload video to YouTube effectively and efficiently.

Distinctive Features

Leawo Video Converter

Video Converter Online

APP Download and Installation

Required

Not required

Common Video Source

Videos/video folder from computer

Videos from computer/Google Drive/Dropbox/URL

Video/audio formats supported

MP4, AVI, MOV, MP3, AAC, etc. over 180 formats.

MP4, AVI, MOV, MP3, M4A, etc. over 300 formats.

Merge videos and batch video conversion

Yes

No

Video parameters setting, including resolution, video/audio codec and so on.

Yes

Yes

Video editing including, trimming, cropping, adding watermark, and more

Yes

No

Security Guarantee

Yes

Yes

High quality reserved

Yes

Yes

Video size limit

No

Yes (up to 2 GB)

Network connection

No

Yes

The efficiency for conversion

Fast

Depend on network connection

Cost for conversion

Free for trial/$19.9 for update

Free

Now the differences between the two solutions are distinguished clearly. You must know the pros and cons of them. It is obvious that they both can work well for video conversion. And Leawo Video Converter is more powerful in batch video converting and video editing. Besides, there is no limit for you to add video files for converting, and it works much faster than the online converter. While the video converter online will be free, the file size is limited though. Anyway, it depends on your actual situation to choose any one of them to convert video to YouTube. After video conversion, you will easily upload videos to YouTube with the guide below.

Part 4: Upload Video to YouTube

After you finish converting video to YouTube compatible video format on your computer, you can start to upload video to YouTube. And of course, if your video are supported by YouTube, you can skip the converting part and directly start to upload a video to YouTube. It is vesy easy to upload video to YouTube. Check it out! Here we take video uploading from computer as an example.

Step1. Sign up for a free YouTube membership to upload videos.

Step2. Enter YouTube and then click Upload icon in the upper-right-hand corner of any YouTube page.

Sign up for a free YouTube membership

Step 3. On the popup page, select the target video for uploading for public/private.

select the target video

Note: Enter as much information about your video as possible, including Title, Description, Tags, and Category. Then all the things left is following its instructions. The video guide below vividly shows you how to upload video to YouTube.