vidpickr

Glossary · metric

What is Frame rate (advanced)?

Frame rate is the number of frames displayed per second. Common rates: 24 fps (film), 30 fps (TV / most YouTube), 60 fps (sports / gaming), 120 fps (high-motion sports / VR). Higher rates feel smoother for motion but require proportionally more bitrate to maintain quality. YouTube supports up to 60 fps on most videos; some go to 120 fps.

Also called:fps advanced · vfr · cfr

See the basic [/glossary/fps](/glossary/fps) entry for the introduction. This entry covers the deeper topics — variable frame rate, refresh-rate matching, and the perceptual thresholds that drive the choices.

Most consumer cameras output variable frame rate (VFR) — slightly off the nominal 30 / 60 fps to handle exposure timing. Most editing software prefers constant frame rate (CFR) for clean cuts. YouTube uploads typically get re-encoded to CFR.

Display refresh rate matters too. A 60 fps video on a 60 Hz monitor pairs cleanly. A 60 fps video on a 144 Hz monitor either repeats frames (judder) or duplicates them via a fractional ratio. For perfect smoothness, frame rate should evenly divide the refresh rate.

Above 90 fps, perceptual returns diminish sharply. The transition from 30 → 60 fps is universally noticeable; 60 → 120 is noticeable for fast motion content (esports, racing); 120 → 240 is detectable in lab tests but rarely in real-world viewing.

Common questions

Why are movies 24 fps if higher looks smoother?
Cinematic convention. 24 fps has the motion-blur character that filmmakers have aesthetically optimized for over a century. "60 fps movie" looks oddly real — the "soap opera effect" people often dislike. Sports and gaming benefit from higher fps; narrative film doesn't.

Related terms

FPS (frames per second)

FPS (frames per second) is the number of distinct still images displayed per second of video.

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).

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 →