• YouTube Direct is an open source, user-generated content video submission and moderation platform.
  • Storyful was founded by journalists to discover the smartest conversations about world events and raise up the authentic voices on the big stories.
  • Storify lets users make stories using social media. With Storify you can drag-and-drop tweets, YouTube videos, Flickr images, Facebook updates, etc. and add your own narrative to tell a story.
  • Shortform is a new social entertainment medium, delivering continuous channels containing the best videos from anywhere on the web, curated by our community of video DJs (VJs).
  • GoAnimate was founded to provide an outlet for everyone's creative ideas. In just 10 minutes, you can make fun animated videos without having to draw.
  • Link TV recently launched Link News, an international news website that sifts through YouTube's library of news content to deliver breaking news and hidden stories to a wider audience. 
If you love to follow the news as much as you love to code, then Hacks/Hackers, an international organization that sits at the nexus of journalism and technology, is for you. Its mission is to create a network of journalists (“hacks”) and technologists (“hackers”) to rethink the future of news and information. Recently, YouTube and LinkTV hosted a Hacks/Hackers meetup at Google’s San Francisco office. Together with four developer partners, we demoed web applications used by reporters and built using the YouTube API.  The presentation started with a YouTube API overview, followed by demos of the following:
  • YouTube Direct is an open source, user-generated content video submission and moderation platform.
  • Storyful was founded by journalists to discover the smartest conversations about world events and raise up the authentic voices on the big stories.
  • Storify lets users make stories using social media. With Storify you can drag-and-drop tweets, YouTube videos, Flickr images, Facebook updates, etc. and add your own narrative to tell a story.
  • Shortform is a new social entertainment medium, delivering continuous channels containing the best videos from anywhere on the web, curated by our community of video DJs (VJs).
  • GoAnimate was founded to provide an outlet for everyone's creative ideas. In just 10 minutes, you can make fun animated videos without having to draw.
  • Link TV recently launched Link News, an international news website that sifts through YouTube's library of news content to deliver breaking news and hidden stories to a wider audience. 
We would like to share the video recording of the event with you so that you can learn more. If you want to discover more about Hacks/Hackers, you can find the list of local chapters here.  



Cheers, 
—Jarek Wilkiewicz, YouTube API Team

  • WebM with the StereoMode setting set to STEREOMODE_TYPE_LEFT_RIGHT. Note that other modes, including alternate track, are not supported.
  • H264 AVC with Supplementary Enhancement Information, Frame Packing Arrangement set. If you are using x264, the argument --frame-packing=3 will set this correctly. In Handbrake you can set this in "x264 Advanced Option String".
Over the last few months, we've been steadily rolling out features for YouTube 3D. Early this year, we announced support for the LG Optimus 3D and NVIDIA 3D Vision, and this month we announced support for Samsung 3D TVs. And we'll keep rolling out to more platforms to make it easier for everyone to get access to user-generated 3D content. 

Many readers have been asking how to upload content. 3D uploads to YouTube will work across all supported devices, from red/blue glasses to the latest 3D televisions.

There are two ways to upload content to YouTube in 3D. If you're just uploading one or two videos, upload content in any supported format and then edit the video settings to tell us that it's 3D. From a video's watch page, select "edit info", then "3D Video". This will only work on videos you've uploaded yourself.

If you're using the API to upload 3D videos, you'll want to format your video in a certain way. YouTube supports automatic detection of 3D content with certain file formats. If you upload with a format that supports automatic detection, we'll automatically set the correct settings so that your video shows up automatically in 3D and shows up properly on phones, TVs, and PCs. 

In both cases, YouTube requires that content be uploaded in Side by Side L/R with each frame squashed 50% and preferably with a 16:9 aspect ratio. The following formats are automatically detected when uploaded:
  • WebM with the StereoMode setting set to STEREOMODE_TYPE_LEFT_RIGHT. Note that other modes, including alternate track, are not supported.
  • H264 AVC with Supplementary Enhancement Information, Frame Packing Arrangement set. If you are using x264, the argument --frame-packing=3 will set this correctly. In Handbrake you can set this in "x264 Advanced Option String".
Be sure to get the squashing and positioning exactly correct. 3D content won't look right if video formatting is off by even a pixel or two.
We're excited to see what you'll show us! Here's an idea from a favorite webcomic of ours.

Cheers, 
—Jonathan Huang, YouTube 3D Product Manager

P.S.—We recently worked with some folks to help them get 3D Mars footage from 1979 restored from the Viking landers. Check it out!