Video basics
Short, plain-English explanations of the terms and formats that come up constantly in short-form video — what they mean, when they matter, and when you can safely ignore them.
31 guides
How to download and record online videos on Windows and Mac
Copy the link of a video you're allowed to keep, paste it into a downloader's URL field and click Download, and it saves as a file; record your screen only when there's nothing to download. Here's the tool for each job, from your own uploads and livestreams to Mediathek shows, playlists and audio.
How to record your screen on any device
Every device you own already has a screen recorder built in. The differences that matter are not the keyboard shortcut but what audio each one captures and how readable the result is on a phone.
How to compress a video without wrecking the quality
Most compression advice tells you to squeeze the file as small as it will go. That is usually the wrong move, because YouTube and Meta re-encode whatever you send them anyway.
Free stock video sites, and what their licences actually say
Pexels, Pixabay, Mixkit and Coverr need no credit. Vecteezy, Freepik (now Magnific, which absorbed Videvo and Mazwai) and Wikimedia Commons do. Here is what each licence page says, re-read in October 2026.
How to reset your algorithm on Instagram and TikTok
Instagram's reset wipes recommendations across Feed, Reels and Explore. TikTok's refresh touches only the For You feed. Neither can be undone, and neither is as broad as most people assume.
What shadowbanning actually is, and how to check your real status
Instagram, TikTok and YouTube all refuse the word and all publish the mechanism under another name. Two of the three will tell you your exact status in about ten seconds.
The best camera for YouTube, and whether you need one
Sony's ZV-E10 II stops after about five minutes of 4K until you change one buried setting. That kind of thing decides a camera, not sensor size.
Color grading, in the order that actually works
A creative LUT dropped onto uncorrected footage does not give you a look, it gives you mush. Here is the order colorists work in, and what changes when the video is a 9:16 clip watched on a phone outdoors.
How to use a green screen (and when not to)
The screen is the cheapest part of the setup. Lighting it evenly, keeping your subject away from it, and recording enough colour data are what decide whether the key looks clean.
Royalty-free music, and what each source actually permits
Royalty-free does not mean free and it is not a licence. Epidemic Sound, Artlist and Soundstripe all agree on what happens to your videos when you cancel, and it is not what the folklore says.
Social media video specs for every platform
One 1080x1920 export covers most of short-form. This is where that stops being true — the length caps, file limits, and the platforms where the number changes depending on how you upload.
Social media image sizes for every platform
Instagram's help page now allows 3:4, YouTube's recommended thumbnail is 4K, and TikTok publishes almost nothing. Here are the numbers each platform actually documents, and where they leave you guessing.
How to convert landscape video to vertical
A full-height 9:16 crop of a 1920x1080 frame is 607 pixels wide. Which third of the picture you keep, and whether it is allowed to move, is the entire job.
- Instagram Reels
How to crop video for Instagram
Your reel plays at 9:16 and previews on your profile inside a 3:4 rectangle. Anything you centred for one gets cut by the other, which is why so many covers lose their own headline.
How to cross-post your videos without watermarks
Instagram says a reel carrying another app's logo still reaches your followers but is held out of recommendations. That mark almost always arrives from one step: downloading your own video back out of the app you posted it to.
SRT vs VTT: the subtitle format differences that matter
One uses commas, the other periods, and only one of them can position text on screen. Here is what actually separates SRT from WebVTT, and which one your platform wants.
How to remove background noise from video
Most noise problems are really signal problems. Here is the order to work in, why heavy denoising can sound worse than the noise it removed, and when to leave the floor alone.
How to add text to video
Most on-screen text fails for one of three reasons: it sits where the app draws a button, it is too thin to read on a phone, or it leaves before anyone finishes it.
Video SEO: ranking on YouTube, and getting into Google results
Google will not index your video until the page it sits on is already ranking, and YouTube never asks you for schema markup. Two systems, two checklists, almost no overlap.
- YouTube & Shorts
Do YouTube tags matter? What YouTube actually says
YouTube's own help page says tags play a minimal role in discovery and are mainly useful for common misspellings. An entire industry of tag tools implies otherwise.
- YouTube & Shorts
YouTube chapters: the exact rules, and what they change
Three rules decide whether your chapters appear at all. Here they are precisely, plus what chapters do for YouTube search and Google key moments — and what they do not do.
- YouTube & Shorts
How long should a YouTube video be?
Eight minutes is a real revenue threshold and a terrible content target. Here is what the length studies found, what YouTube's own rules say, and how to pick a number for your channel.
Making your social video accessible
WCAG puts a hard number on flashing content and on text contrast. Platform docs tell you where auto-captions fall short. Here is the whole checklist, with the thresholds attached.
Video editing terms, explained in plain English
Gain is not volume, a LUT is not a grade, and a container is not a codec. Here are the words that stop beginners, grouped by the part of the job where you actually hit them.
How to write alt text people can actually use
A screen reader says graphic before it reads your text, which is why image of openers stutter. WCAG, Google and the platforms each have a rule here, and they do not all say the same thing.
How to make a video loop seamlessly
A clean loop is a craft problem with a known solution. The claim that loops win you reach is a different problem entirely, and the evidence behind it is far thinner than the advice suggests.
A video asset filing system you can still use in five years
The test is not whether your drive looks tidy today. It is whether you can find the interview you shot two years ago, open the project, and export it again.
What is B-roll?
B-roll is the secondary footage you cut over your main shot to show what's being talked about. Here's what it is and how to use it well in short clips.
What is a jump cut?
A jump cut removes a chunk of footage within one continuous shot, so the subject visibly jumps forward in time. Here's why short-form video is full of them.
What is AI reframe?
AI reframe turns landscape footage into vertical clips without losing the subject. Here's how active-speaker tracking works — and why center-crop fails on real podcasts.
Video dimensions and aspect ratios for short-form (2026)
One vertical export covers almost every platform. Here are the exact dimensions, safe zones, and the settings that keep your clips sharp.
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