vidpickr

Glossary · metric

What is FPS (frames per second)?

FPS (frames per second) is the number of distinct still images displayed per second of video. 24 fps is cinematic, 30 fps is standard for TV and most YouTube uploads, 60 fps is smoother for sports and gaming. Higher FPS means more smoothness but a larger file at the same bitrate.

Also called:frame rate · 60fps · 24fps

The human eye perceives smooth motion above ~16 fps; below that, motion looks like a slideshow. Modern video standards picked round numbers above this threshold. 24 fps mimics film projectors and feels deliberate. 30 and 60 fps trace back to NTSC TV refresh rates and look "modern".

YouTube supports up to 60 fps for most uploads. Some content (live VR, high-end gaming captures) goes to 120 fps. Doubling FPS while holding bitrate cuts the per-frame quality in half — that's why 60 fps streams need ~50% more bitrate than 30 fps for the same look.

When you download a "60 fps" file, you're getting all the motion data the uploader provided. Re-encoding to 30 fps drops every other frame and makes motion choppier; YouTube downloaders that "convert" to 30 fps are doing exactly that. VidPickr saves at the original FPS — no frame interpolation, no frame dropping.

Common questions

Is 60 fps better than 30 fps?
For motion-heavy content (sports, gaming, action), yes — 60 fps is visibly smoother. For talking-head content, 30 fps looks more cinematic and saves bandwidth.
Can I convert 30 fps video to 60 fps?
Software interpolation (RIFE, DAIN, etc.) can synthesize intermediate frames, but the result is never identical to native 60 fps capture. There are subtle motion artifacts. For most purposes, leave the source FPS alone.

Related terms

Bitrate

Bitrate is the amount of data a video or audio stream carries per second, measured in bits per second (bps) or kilobits (kbps) and megabits (Mbps).

Resolution

Resolution is the pixel count of a video frame, expressed as width × height.

Keyframe (I-frame)

A keyframe (I-frame) is a video frame that stores a complete picture, independent of any other frames.

Codec

A codec is the algorithm that encodes (compresses) and decodes raw audio or video into a smaller stream.

VidPickr is a free, browser-based YouTube downloader. Every term in this glossary either describes how YouTube delivers video or why your downloads behave the way they do. Try the downloader →