Quality Optimization
Quality Optimization is an optional encoding step available to Creator plan and up subscribers. It checks your specific video and finds the best encoding setting for its content, rather than applying the same fixed setting to every upload. The result is often a leaner file that loads faster for your viewers - with no compromise in how it looks.
This has nothing to do with AI
Quality Optimization is a mathematical analysis. It tests different encoding settings against your actual footage and measures the result. There is no AI involved, no machine learning, no analysis of what your video is about or who is in it. It works entirely at the technical encoding level - the same technology that has been used in professional video production for decades.
What it does
Long Play encodes every video at 1080p and 720p as standard. Quality Optimization re-examines those two renditions to find the tightest encoding setting that still produces the same visual quality for your specific content.
The upside: most footage - interviews, talking heads, travel, landscape - results in a meaningfully smaller file at the same quality. Faster for your viewers to load, no visible difference.
The trade-off: it takes significantly longer. Checking your video this thoroughly can take several hours. If you need your video available quickly, use the normal workflow now and run Quality Optimization later - nothing about going fast now stops you from optimizing afterward.
What if no improvement is found?
That is a normal outcome, not an error. Some footage - high-motion, highly detailed, or already very efficient - simply has no room to improve further. When that happens, nothing changes and you will see it noted on the video's status page. There is no benefit to running it again for the same file; the result will not change.
Creator plan and up
Quality Optimization is available on the Creator plan and above, including Pro. It does not appear for free plan accounts.
Where to run it
- At upload - tick "Run Quality Optimization after upload" on the upload page. Your video encodes and goes live normally first; Quality Optimization queues afterward at low priority, so it does not delay your video going live.
- When approving a Video Fix - when you preview and approve a crop, trim, or any other fix, the same option appears at the approval step. Tick it to queue Quality Optimization immediately after the fix encode completes.
- On an existing video - go to your video's edit page, open Video Fixes, and choose Quality Optimization.
Reverting to standard
You can switch a video back to the standard encode at any time from the Quality Optimization page. Your video stays live throughout - the old version is not removed until the new one is ready, so there is no gap in availability.
To learn more about the standard encoding process, see What happens after you upload?.
To learn about the Video Fixes suite - crop, trim, stabilization, and more - see Video Fixes - overview.