Best practices for exporting video for social media and phones

Last updated on Jun 23, 2025

Improve your Premiere Pro exports for social media platforms and mobile devices with these settings and techniques.

Here are some simple tips to get the best quality when exporting your media for the web.

Tips for creating social videos

For a smooth and high-quality playback, follow these tips when creating video and audio for the web.

Category	Guideline
Know your audience’s data rate	Use lower data rates for internet video. Fast connections stream easily, but dial-up users must wait, and clips must be kept short for quicker downloads.
Choose the correct frame rate	Lower frame rates can help with limited bandwidth. High-motion clips benefit more from reduced frame rates. For best results, divide the frame rate by whole numbers.
Optimize for quality	Use the highest frame rate and size your platform allows. For guidance, check the web or device-specific presets in Adobe Media Encoder.
Pick a suitable frame size	Bigger frames mean lower quality at the same data rate. Match your source’s aspect ratio to avoid issues like pillarboxing.
Plan for download times	Estimate how long a clip takes to load and play without pausing. The formula for short clips is: Pause equals download time - play time + 10% of play time.
Clean up your video	Remove noise and interlacing for better encoding. Clean, high-quality source material always delivers better results.
Mind display quality	Even small video windows need to look good. Computers show flaws like noise or artifacts just as clearly as HDTVs.
Apply the same rules to audio	Start with clean audio. When possible, transfer digitally from CDs. Avoid analog input when unnecessary and use high-quality sound cards for analog sources.

Tips for creating videos for mobile devices

Use the following tips to shoot content optimized for export to various mobile devices. You can export a sequence for use on different mobile devices.

Use tight shots and keep your subject visually separate from the background to improve clarity on smaller screens.
Pay close attention to lighting—poor lighting can make videos hard to see on mobile devices, so shoot with brightness and contrast in mind.
Minimize excessive panning or rolling, as these movements can be distracting or disorienting on small displays.

Use the following tips when editing with Premiere Pro or After Effects.

Set the output frame rate based on the target device. Lower frame rates, like 15–22 fps, help reduce file size while maintaining acceptable quality.
Limit file size by trimming unnecessary content, avoiding empty frames, and using pre-encoding techniques like stable camera work.
Apply motion stabilization, blur, or noise reduction in post-production to make your footage easier to compress.
Use a color palette suited for mobile screens. Preview your video in Device Central to ensure the colors work well across devices.
View clips in grayscale to check visual balance and ensure your contrast levels translate well to mobile playback.

Export text from Motion Graphics

Export videos for social media channels

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