Export Settings Explained

Every video is rendered in your browser, for free, at settings you control. The Export Settings panel gives you four decisions — Shape, Quality, Frame Rate and Format — plus a summary card showing the exact frame size, aspect ratio and duration. Whatever the summary shows is exactly what gets encoded, so check it before a long render.

Shape — the frame for your platform

Shape is the aspect ratio, and it is the first thing to decide because every platform has a native frame. There are six presets: 16:9 (YouTube, desktop), 9:16 (TikTok, Shorts, Reels, Spotify Canvas), 1:1 and 4:5 (Instagram feed), 21:9 (cinematic teasers) and 4:3 (retro). Clicking a shape recomputes the resolution instantly and redraws the engine to fill the frame — nothing is letterboxed or cropped.

Quality — 1080p, 1440p, 4K

Quality sets the resolution tier by the frame's short edge — 1080, 1440 or 2160 px — with the long edge derived from your Shape. So 16:9 at 4K is 3840×2160, and 9:16 at 1080p is 1080×1920. Higher tiers cost render time and file size in proportion to pixel count (4K has 4× the pixels of 1080p). Phones are capped at 1080p — for 1440p or 4K, use a desktop.

Frame Rate — 24, 30, 60 fps

Since Novus renders every frame from your audio's real frequency data, higher frame rates make beat-reactive motion visibly smoother. 60 fps is the best default for music visualizers; 30 fps halves the render work and file size and is fine for slower, ambient visuals; 24 fps gives a filmic cadence for cinematic 21:9 and lyric styles. Frame rate scales render time almost linearly — dropping a 4K full-length export to 30 fps is the single biggest time saving available.

Format — MP4 vs WebM

MP4 (H.264/AAC) is the universal choice — every upload form, phone and editor accepts it. WebM (VP9/Opus) often compresses slightly better but some tools are picky about it. If unsure, pick MP4. Under the hood, desktop Chrome and Edge use a frame-accurate offline encoder (WebCodecs) that renders every frame with no dropped frames; iOS Safari falls back to a lower-quality realtime recorder and, for MP4, converts the recording afterward. Either way everything happens on your machine — nothing touches a server.

Full song or a trimmed window

The summary card has an Export full song duration checkbox. Leave it checked to render the whole track; uncheck it to export only your trim markers — how you cut a 15-second teaser or a chorus loop without editing the audio elsewhere. The Export window row always shows the exact seconds you will render.

Recommended settings by platform

• YouTube — 16:9, 1080p (or 4K), 60 fps, MP4, full song.
• TikTok / Shorts / Reels — 9:16, 1080p (=1080×1920), 30 or 60 fps, MP4, trimmed to a 15–60s hook.
• Instagram feed — 4:5 (=1080×1350) or 1:1, 1080p, 30 fps, MP4.
• Spotify Canvas — 9:16, 1080p, MP4, a short 3–8s loop. See Make a Spotify Canvas Loop.
• When in doubt — 16:9, 1080p, 60 fps, MP4 uploads everywhere.