Final check and export

This lesson is still being tested: it improves with learners' feedback. If something is unclear, it is the lesson that needs fixing, not you.

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to

export your video in the format the platform expects;
do the final check on the exported file: content, sound, rights, transparency;
flag AI-generated or modified content when you need to;
gather the module’s deliverable.

Why it matters to you

A video is judged in a few seconds, on a phone, often without sound. A mistake in a subtitle, a wrong date, music with no license or a face published without permission, and all the work is lost, sometimes with consequences. The final check takes twenty minutes, on the exported file: it is the last step before publishing.

Before you start


You need	Your editing project (lesson 4), a phone to watch the exported video, and the video checklist (resource)
Cost	€0
Duration	50 minutes
Reminder	Before publishing: the permissions of the people shown, and nothing personal on screen

Understand it in 3 minutes

The format, according to YouTube (recommended encoding settings, 24/10/2026): an MP4 container, H.264 video, AAC-LC (or Opus) audio. On a computer, 16:9 is the standard; for a vertical or square video, the player automatically adjusts to the video’s size and to the device. For other platforms, read their help page as of the date.

The final check, in five parts (checklist in the resource): the content, the sound, the rights, the transparency, the file.

Transparency:

YouTube asks creators to flag realistic generative AI content, for example when you make a real person say or do something they did not say or do, when you alter footage of a real event or place, when you generate a realistic scene that never happened, or when you create AI music that is the main element of the video; YouTube Studio’s “AI use” setting is how you do it. Non-realistic content and minor edits do not need to be flagged, according to the same page;
the EU AI Act (article 50, applicable since August 2, 2026) asks a person or an organization (company, association…) that creates or modifies a deep fake with an AI to flag that the content was artificially generated or modified, at the latest at the first exposure to the public. A purely personal, non-professional activity is not targeted.

Music: if you took a track under a Creative Commons license from YouTube’s audio library, according to YouTube, state the artist’s name in the description.

Do it together

1Step 1: Export

In your editing software, choose the export as MP4, keeping your video’s format (vertical or horizontal).

With iMovie on iPhone or iPad, Apple’s help says you must first import the project into iMovie on Mac to get an MP4 file.

In iMovie on Mac, it is the Share button, then Export File (this is how Apple’s help describes exporting an MP4 file); the settings there are named Quality, Resolution and Compress, without the word “H.264”. For this MP4, Apple’s help suggests Medium or Low Quality, or 720 or 540 Resolution; then check that the file name ends in .mp4. In Clipchamp and DaVinci Resolve, look for “MP4” in the export window or in the software’s help: the names of the settings vary from one program to another, and we have not checked these two windows.

Name the file with the date: soiree-rentree-2026-10-24.mp4.

2Step 2: The final check

Open the resource Video checklist before publishing. Go through it on the exported file:

watch it in full on your phone, once with sound, once without;
proofread every subtitle and every on-screen text;
check every fact against your notes, day of the week included: in our test for lesson 1, the AI had not noticed the script’s wrong date;
tick the rights: images, music, voice, faces.

3Step 3: Transparency

Does your video contain a realistic-looking image, scene or voice, generated or modified by AI (lessons 2 and 3), or AI-generated music that carries the video? If so, plan to flag it on the platform, at upload time. Cloning your own voice for the voice-over does not need to be flagged on YouTube; making a real person say what they did not say does.

4Step 4: The deliverable

Gather in the video’s folder:

the brief and the storyboard (lesson 1);
the source of each image (lesson 2), of the voice and subtitles (lesson 3), of the music (lesson 4);
the editing project and the exported file;
the completed checklist, dated.

Your turn

The deliverable for module 11: a short video (or a carousel), produced from start to finish, with its brief, its storyboard, the step-by-step account of how it was made, and its completed checklist. Publishing is optional: if you publish, flag what must be flagged.

Resources to download

Video checklist before publishing: the content, the sound, the rights, the transparency, the file.

Check your work

It worked if:

your video is exported as MP4, in the right format, with a dated name;
the checklist was gone through on the exported file, watched on a phone;
each right is noted, and each piece of content to flag is identified;
your folder contains all the pieces of the deliverable.

Common mistakes:

checking the editing project, not the exported file;
watching only on a big screen, with sound;
forgetting the credit for a piece of music;
publishing a realistic AI-generated scene without flagging it.

Keep it and pick it up later

Keep the video’s complete folder: to redo it, fix it or adapt it.
Note in your journal what you would do differently: it will be the basis of your next video.

Going further

optional

YouTube’s page on recommended encoding settings also details the recommended bitrates and color space, for those who want to go further.

New words

5 words explained

Word	What it means
Export	Create the final video file from the editing project
MP4	The most common video file format
H.264, AAC	The most common ways of compressing video and sound
16:9	The standard horizontal format; 9:16 is its vertical equivalent
Flag (on a platform)	Indicate, at upload, that content was generated or modified by AI

To be checked: no export was done for this lesson (no video production while it was written); the rules of other platforms (Instagram, TikTok…) are not described.