How to create 360 videos and upload to YouTube

YouTube now supports downloading and playback of 360-degree videos on Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Opera browsers. To successfully download videos, encode your videos in high resolution and according to YouTube's advanced specifications.

YouTube now supports downloading and playback of 360-degree videos on Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Opera browsers. But to successfully upload 360-degree videos to YouTube, you must use the application to change the video file before proceeding to upload.

In addition, you can also watch 360-degree videos on the YouTube app for Android or iOS. For a richer experience you can watch 360-degree videos with Cardboard and the YouTube app for Android.

1. How to create a video

The following 360 cameras are compatible with You Tube, currently available or coming soon on the market:

Ricoh Theta
Kodak SP360
IC Real Tech Allie

For the best video download, your video should be encoded in high resolution and advanced YouTube specifications. YouTube is currently supporting 360-degree video with 24, 25, 30, 48, 50 or 60 frames per second. We recommend downloading photo-matched videos with a 16: 9 aspect ratio up to 4K resolution (3840x2160).

In addition to the cameras introduced in the previous section, you can also create 360-degree videos using rigging equipment and using editing software like Kolor Autopano.

What's special about referring to 360-degree YouTube?

2. Prepare before uploading the video

Your video file must have some specific Metadata to enable 360-degree playback. Follow the instructions below to install the application, which will add the necessary Metadata to your new file.

Create a 360 video file with the application

Download the 360 Video Metadata app for Mac or Window operating systems.
Extract files, then open 360 Video Metadata application . If you use Mac, just right-click the application, then click "Open".
Select the video file
Click "Inject and save"
Enter a name for the file to be created
Save file. The new file will be created automatically at the same location as the original file
Download the new file to YouTubbe
Wait for 360-degree effect processing. This process may take up to 1 hour.

You can also add Metadata with Python Script.

See how to download YouTube videos to your computer or laptop here.

1. Download the ZIP file containing the script using the "Download as ZIP" button on the bottom right of this page. To run that file, you must install Python on the computer.

2. Extract the file. In the subdirectory 360- Videos- Metadatas, you will see the 360VideosMetadata.py script . On Terminal (Mac) or Command (Windows), run the script with this command:

360videosmetadata.py -i [input] [output]

Input is the full name of the file you created, for example, 360video.mp4. The output will be the file name created by the script, so it will have a new name.

The command you run will look like this:

360VideosMetadata.py -i 360video.mp4 360videoNEW.mp4

3. If you have never run Python scripts before, you can review them in Mac or Windows applications.

4. The script will create a new file. Then download this file to YouTube.

3. Upload to YouTube

Before publishing, you can check whether the downloaded file has 360-degree playback enabled by watching a video on your computer to check it. However, checking whether the 360-degree video playback feature is available takes up to 1 hour.

360-degree video has a rotary button in the top left corner, you can use WASD keys to rotate, you can find these features to check if your video is a 360-degree video.

Note that videos should not be edited with tools such as YouTube video editors or advanced features of computer apps or mobile apps because these tools currently do not support videos 360 degrees.