How to Render 720p & 1080p Video using Sony Vegas Pro 12

: By: Derek Moran; In: VEGAS Pro; Published: 28 February 2013; Last Updated: 02 September 2022

This tutorial will teach you how to set up Sony Vegas Pro 12 for rendering/exporting 1080p or 720p HD Video suitable for YouTube, Vimeo or playback on your home computer.

Which format should I use ?

There are always many different ways to skin a cat with Sony Vegas Pro 12. With the release of this version of Vegas Pro, Sony has created some easy to use Internet Rendering Templates under the MainConcept AVC/AAC (.mp4) format.

MainConcept AVC/AAC (.mp4)

Mainconcept uses the H.264 codec which is widely used and accepted on all websites, so it is a safe choice to use. Mainconcept produces a slightly higher contrast look with very vivid colours. If your Bit Rate is on the low side, you can lose some detail in dark and shadowy areas of your video. It does have the advantage of the option to use your GPU (Graphics Card) to help speed up your rendering times. Please note that you will need a compatible Graphics Card for GPU Acceleration to work. You can read more about the requirements for GPU Acceleration here on the official Sony Creative Software website.

Windows Media Video (.wmv)

The other choice you could use for making your videos is Windows Media Video (.wmv)
Windows Media Video creates a slightly different look to Mainconcept, which some people may prefer. The colours are a little more muted with this codec, however it does hold onto small detail in any dark and shadowy areas of your video.

One dis-advantage of Windows Media Video is that it is extremely CPU intensive when rendering. So it takes a lot of juice and time to render this codec out. You will also need a fair amount of RAM (memory) installed if you intend to render full 1080p video with WMV. On lower powered computers with not enough memory, it can just keel over and die halfway through rendering.

If you are interested in Rendering to Windows Media Video instead of MainConcept AVC/AAC, then you can watch a video tutorial I made for Sony Vegas Pro 11, where I showed three different ways to render. About one third of the way through this video I showed how to render with WMV.

Sony Vegas Pro 11: How to Render 720p and 1080p HD Video for YouTube

render as template selection

Where can I play back this type of video ?

Rendering to an Interent Template does not limit you to just uploading it to a website. You can also use this format for playback on your computer.

However, if you want to make a BluRay Disc or DVD, you will have to render to some different formats. You can learn about this through these related articles:

How to Render Video for BluRay Disc using Movie Studio Platinum 12

How to Render a Video Suitable for turning into a DVD

Buy the latest version of Vegas Pro here !

About Derek Moran
Derek Moran is the author of all articles on Movie Studio Zen.
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Misha · 22:50 21/02/2018
Sir, I have one question:
If I wish my video to be good enough for full HD TV display (Music video for television) in what way i can render video without making the file too large?
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  Derek
  
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  · 23:12 21/02/2018
  
  Follow this exact tutorial - it is already perfect for viewing on a TV.
  The only way to make the file size smaller, is to reduce your Bit Rate settings.
  However, the lower your bit rate becomes, the lower the quality becomes.
  Experiment with progressively lower bit rates until the image starts to fall apart.
  
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  Misha · 23:17 21/02/2018
  
  Thanks! :)
  
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Florencia · 15:50 01/12/2017
I don't have that option to render, the "internet" one and idk what to do ?
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  Derek
  
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  · 00:30 02/12/2017
  
  Which exact program and version are you using ?
  Please be very specific.
  
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  Chris · 22:51 09/12/2017
  
  Hi Derek, I have the same issue. I'm using Vegas Movie Studio 10.
  I do have Main Concept but it automatically sets to 720. I can change this manually to 1080 but will this negatively effect the output? My projects look fine to my eyes but if i can get them even sharper then I'm open to advice. Thank you.
  
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  Derek
  
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  · 12:23 10/12/2017
  
  For best results, you should always render to the [i]same[/i] Frame Size (resolution) your original source video was recorded in. It is OK to render 720p video into 1080p, but it won't make it look any sharper or better.
  
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Nizar · 00:04 07/09/2017
Thanks a lot, really help me!
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Drakes · 22:52 06/02/2017
When i render videos why is it always 2 gigabytes? The length of the video doesnt matter. pls help
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  Derek
  
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  · 23:26 06/02/2017
  
  No one else has ever reported that as a problem before.
  If your videos have empty black video that goes on after the video has finished, that would indicate that you has "Render Loop Region Only" turned on by mistake. That would make a video last longer. Setting is at bottom of render as window - make sure to turn off.
  If you want more help, you need to report back everything about your projects and what format settings you are rendering to.
  
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  Wouter · 06:44 30/05/2017
  
  I got this problem too ! My videos always turn out to be over 1 gb .. Even when it's just like 4 minutes of film with 720p gear.. How to fix this indeed? If i render in avi widescreen its very bad quality and 900mb. If i render as 720p avi its 25gb for just 4 minutes of movie. Its insane ?!
  
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  Derek
  
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  · 11:59 30/05/2017
  
  NEVER render to Video for Windows .avi - this is an uncompressed format!
  What is the subject matter in your videos?
  Is it gameplay? Does it contain fast moving action?
  If the answer is yes, that is why the file size is large.
  There is only one way to reduce file size - reduce your Bit Rates.
  
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  Wouter · 15:05 30/05/2017
  
  It contains fast moving holiday footage, a lot of pieces all together. And yes the bitrate is extremely high. How to fix this and how to render in good and small quality.
  
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  Derek
  
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  · 16:40 30/05/2017
  
  Have you tried rendering using the default Bit Rate Settings of 24Mbps High and 12Mbps Average?
  That will give you a more reasonable file size.
  These settings are already optimized for video you intend to upload to places like YouTube. Changing the Bit Rate to crazy high levels is exactly what is causing the problem.
  There is only one alternative to using Vegas Pro for rendering, and that is to use Handbrake to render your videos. I will be uploading a detailed tutorial about this soon. There is a lot of information on the Internet about this already, but unfortunately one of the web pages (not on my site) no longer exists. I wrote down the instructions from this website and will create a tutorial on Movie Studio Zen. It will be at least a week before I finish this tutorial, because it is very in-depth and is taking a long time.
  
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avinash · 06:15 22/01/2017
Sir, i have sony vegas pro 14, im making a video for big screen (6ft×8ft). What video property should i set and what render type shoud i use... Please tel me sit as far as possible, tomorrow is my presentation. Main me @ avinashjbugatti@gmail.com please help.
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  Derek
  
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  · 15:15 22/01/2017
  
  Render to the same settings shown in this tutorial.
  
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Bendrimia · 07:48 17/10/2016
what if I don't have those output formats ? [url=http://]https://postimg.org/image/cocvl30qh/[/url]
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  Derek
  
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  · 08:35 17/10/2016
  
  I did not say to Pre-Render your video.
  Your screen shot shows that you are trying to pre-render.
  Go to [b]Render As[/b] and then you will find ALL the options available for exporting a video.
  
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Mal · 08:17 04/09/2016
Hi Derek,

I tried rendering a project which the source was a 1080p had Sony cam.

A one gig file. My output file is only 200mb. The quality is nowhere nerve as good as the original file. Setting was bluray 720p and I have done the Internet 1080p as well. Using Sony Vegas 13. Please help.
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  Derek
  
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  · 14:24 04/09/2016
  
  What type of format does your Sony camera output to ?
  Is it an action cam and outputting to Sony XAVC codec ?
  I have a newer tutorial for Sony Vegas Pro 13 here. Don't worry that I am talking about 50 fps/60 fps. The instructions are similar. If you use Match Media, it will make sure correct frame rates are used for Project Properties. Just make sure your output Frame Rate is set to EXACTLY match the Source Video frame rate.
  https://www.moviestudiozen.com/free-tutorials/sony-vegas-pro/544-how-to-render-50p-video-vegas-pro
  Where do you want to watch your final video ?
  Are you actually making Blu-ray discs? or are you uploading to YouTube ?
  You can increased Bit Rates for higher quality.
  I recommend you also watch this video:
  https://www.moviestudiozen.com/free-tutorials/sony-vegas-pro/551-sony-vegas-zen-tips-1-video-blurry
  
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lucy · 05:11 30/07/2016
hi, i rendered my video which was around four minutes long but when i tried to play it back from my folder, there was no audio or video and the file was an hour long..... please help
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  Derek
  
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  · 16:40 30/07/2016
  
  It sounds like you have "Render Loop Region Only" turned on. This means that anything between the 2x tiny yellow triangles on the Timeline Ruler, is being rendered. So you have rendered empty space. Look at last screen shot in tutorial above. Turn Render Loop Region Only OFF and re-render your project.
  
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Im Sardar · 18:23 15/07/2016
hey! running into bit of a problem, i'm doing a review video for a show and i took stills from a 1080p version of an episode, now when i render, the video turns out perfect, but the stills look terrible, nothing like in the preview, much darker and lower quality, i was wondering if i can do something to fix that, thank you
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  Derek
  
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  · 18:56 15/07/2016
  
  I have an in-depth tutorial on how to add Colour Correction here:
  https://www.moviestudiozen.com/free-tutorials/sony-vegas-pro/526-colour-correction-tools-sony-vegas-pro
  Please note that different Media Players artificially add filters which can change what the video looks like.
  When working with still images inside of a video project, .png files look better than using .jpeg
  Try saving your screen shots as .png files instead and make sure to use high quality settings.
  
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  Im Sardar · 10:01 16/07/2016
  
  thank you for the reply
  so when i take a png with the snipping tool, it renders fine with the 1080p video, and this png through the snipping tool is much lower quality, so strange.
  
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Mike Vermeire · 00:39 04/05/2016
Thank you Derek, this managed to get my video down to 300mb and saved my ass haha :)
Great instructions and video, thank you man!
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How to Render 720p & 1080p Video using Sony Vegas Pro 12

This tutorial will teach you how to set up Sony Vegas Pro 12 for rendering/exporting 1080p or 720p HD Video suitable for YouTube, Vimeo or playback on your home computer.

Which format should I use ?

MainConcept AVC/AAC (.mp4)

Windows Media Video (.wmv)

Where can I play back this type of video ?

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