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Export Settings Guide: Resolution, Bitrate, and Codec

2026-04-18•By Threnic Team

Exporting is the final step in the Threnic workflow, and getting your settings right ensures your video looks sharp on every platform. This guide breaks down every export parameter — resolution, bitrate, codec, and frame rate — and provides optimized presets for YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and more.

How Threnic Export Works

Unlike traditional video editors that render on the CPU, Threnic uses the WebCodecs API for hardware-accelerated encoding. Your GPU renders each frame of the lyric video, then the WebCodecs encoder compresses those frames into an H.264 video stream. Finally, Threnic muxes the encoded video with your original audio track to produce a playable MP4 file.

This entire process happens locally in your browser — no cloud processing, no upload delays, no server fees. The speed depends entirely on your hardware: a modern GPU can encode a 3-minute video at 1080p in 2-5 minutes.

Browser Requirements

WebCodecs is supported in:

  • Google Chrome 94+
  • Microsoft Edge 94+
  • Brave 94+
  • Opera 80+

Firefox and Safari do not currently support WebCodecs. If you see the export button grayed out, you're likely using an unsupported browser.

Export Parameters Explained

Resolution

Resolution determines the pixel dimensions of your output video. Higher resolution means sharper text and more detail, but also larger file sizes and longer export times.

| Resolution | Dimensions | File Size (3 min) | Best For | | ---------- | ----------- | ----------------- | ------------------------- | | 720p | 1280 × 720 | ~30-60 MB | Quick drafts, previews | | 1080p | 1920 × 1080 | ~80-150 MB | YouTube, most platforms | | 1440p (2K) | 2560 × 1440 | ~150-300 MB | High-quality archival | | 2160p (4K) | 3840 × 2160 | ~300-600 MB | Professional distribution |

Recommendation: Export at 1080p for most use cases. YouTube re-encodes all uploads anyway, so uploading at 4K only provides marginal quality improvement in exchange for much larger files and slower export times. Reserve 4K for situations where you need pristine quality, such as projection displays or professional clients.

Bitrate

Bitrate controls how much data is allocated per second of video. Higher bitrate means less compression, which means better quality — but also larger files.

| Quality Level | Bitrate (1080p) | Bitrate (4K) | Visual Quality | | ------------- | --------------- | ------------ | -------------------------------- | | Low | 4 Mbps | 15 Mbps | Visible compression on fine text | | Medium | 8 Mbps | 30 Mbps | Good quality for most content | | High | 15 Mbps | 50 Mbps | Excellent, minimal artifacts | | Maximum | 25 Mbps | 80 Mbps | Virtually lossless |

For lyric videos specifically, higher bitrate is more important than for general video content. Text rendering is particularly sensitive to compression artifacts — blocky compression around letterforms is immediately noticeable. We recommend a minimum of 8 Mbps at 1080p for clean text reproduction.

Frame Rate

Frame rate determines how many individual frames are rendered per second.

| Frame Rate | Use Case | | ---------- | ------------------------------------ | | 24 fps | Cinematic feel, smaller files | | 30 fps | Standard for most platforms | | 60 fps | Smooth motion, best for fast effects |

Recommendation: Use 30 fps unless your lyric video has fast-moving elements or heavy animation. 60 fps produces smoother motion but doubles the export time and file size. 24 fps gives a cinematic quality that can look elegant with slow, atmospheric lyric videos.

Audio Settings

Threnic muxes your original audio file directly into the MP4 container without re-encoding. This means your audio quality is preserved exactly as-is — no generation loss from compression.

If your source audio is MP3, the output will contain that MP3 stream. If it's WAV, Threnic will encode it as AAC for compatibility, since most video players and platforms expect AAC audio in MP4 containers.

Platform-Optimized Presets

YouTube

YouTube re-encodes all uploaded videos, so you want to provide the highest quality input to minimize double-compression artifacts.

| Setting | Value | | ---------- | -------------------------------------------- | | Resolution | 1080p (or 4K if source material supports it) | | Bitrate | 15 Mbps (1080p) or 50 Mbps (4K) | | Frame Rate | 30 fps | | Format | MP4 / H.264 |

Pro tip: YouTube processes 1080p video much faster than 4K. If you need your video live quickly, upload at 1080p — it'll be available in full resolution within minutes instead of hours.

TikTok

TikTok heavily compresses all uploads, so providing a high-quality source helps the final result look better.

| Setting | Value | | ---------- | --------------------------- | | Resolution | 1080 × 1920 (9:16 vertical) | | Bitrate | 10 Mbps | | Frame Rate | 30 fps | | Format | MP4 / H.264 |

Note: Threnic currently exports in landscape (16:9) orientation. For TikTok, you'll need to either design your composition with vertical framing in mind or crop the output in a video editor.

Instagram Reels

| Setting | Value | | ------------ | --------------------------- | | Resolution | 1080 × 1920 (9:16 vertical) | | Bitrate | 10 Mbps | | Frame Rate | 30 fps | | Max Duration | 90 seconds |

Twitter / X

| Setting | Value | | ------------- | ------ | | Resolution | 1080p | | Bitrate | 8 Mbps | | Frame Rate | 30 fps | | Max File Size | 512 MB |

Export Performance

Export speed depends on three factors:

  1. GPU power — A dedicated GPU (NVIDIA GTX 1060 or better) significantly outperforms integrated graphics
  2. Effect complexity — More active post-processing effects = slower per-frame rendering
  3. Resolution — 4K renders 4× the pixels of 1080p

Approximate Export Times (3-minute video)

| Hardware | 1080p @ 30fps | 4K @ 30fps | | -------------------------- | ------------- | ---------- | | Integrated GPU (Intel UHD) | 8-15 min | 30-60 min | | Mid-range GPU (RTX 3060) | 2-4 min | 8-15 min | | High-end GPU (RTX 4080) | 1-2 min | 4-8 min |

Optimization Tips

  • Close other browser tabs during export to free up GPU memory
  • Disable unnecessary effects — if an effect isn't visible in the final output, turn it off
  • Use hardware acceleration — Ensure your browser's hardware acceleration is enabled in settings
  • Export at night — Long 4K exports can run unattended while you sleep

Troubleshooting

Export fails immediately: Check that you have an audio file loaded and at least one lyric block on the timeline. Both are required.

Export produces black frames: This usually indicates a WebGL context loss. Close other GPU-intensive applications and try again. If persistent, reduce the export resolution.

Audio is out of sync in the exported file: This can happen with variable bitrate audio files. Re-encode your audio as constant bitrate (CBR) MP3 at 320kbps before importing.

File size is unexpectedly large: Reduce the bitrate setting. For most social media platforms, 8-10 Mbps at 1080p produces files under 100MB for a typical song length.

Next Steps

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