YouTube’s Lucky Number

The number is 240. In learning how YouTube works its magic so that MobyGames may one day take user’s video submissions, Trixter has been doing his own poking at the video giant to determine what parameters the site uses to transcode user videos. What he learned: 240 lines, 240 kbps, 240 frames in a GOP. His best guess for why things are the way the are: …”it sure seems like the YouTube guys were taking blind stabs at encoding parameters (ie. ‘Hey, let’s set everything to 240 and see what happens!’).”