The following are guidelines for preparing your files for upload.
Direct mail, newspaper ads and other print material:
Scanned as 300 dpi TIFF or PNG images. Try to avoid JPG, as important details will be lost.
Robocalls and radio ads:
MP3 audio at 64 kbps or higher. Stereo or mono.
Video:
As always, there is a tradeoff between quality and file size. To be most useful to FactCheck.org, your video should conform as closely as possible to these specifications:
| Aspect ratio | Min. Width (pixels) |
Min. Height (pixels) |
Max. Width (pixels) |
Max. Height (pixels) |
Bitrate | Max. Length* |
| 4:3 | 640 | 480 | 960 | 720 | 1 Mbps | 5 min. |
| 16:9 (widescreen) |
640 | 360 | 1280 | 720 | 1 Mbps | 5 min. |
* If you have a long-form video that you want FactCheck.org to investigate, please tell us about it in an email and put “Spin Detectors” in the subject field. If we decide to have a look, we will waive the maximum file size limit.
All video should be encoded as MP4 (M4v, M4p) program streams. Although Flash FLV and Windows Media Video WMV are both types of MP4, they don’t necessarily play on all devices (such as mobile phones and iPads). Although Quicktime MOV files can contain MP4 program streams, they also don’t necessarily play on all devices. So, if you don’t send FactCheck.org a true MP4 file, someone will have to convert your video, which decreases the chance that it will be used.
For more technical help with preparing MP4 files—and free video conversion utilities—please consult www.videohelp.com.