If someone uploads a video in h264 1080p, then the video is transcoded to h264 (at a lower bitrate) and to vp9. But if some time later, the video gets many views then the video is transcoded to AV1. So, the file with the highest quality would be the one in VP9, since I don’t think YouTube keeps the original file until the video gets popularity.
Is this true? Will the video with the best quality always be the one transcoded to VP9?
i’m pretty sure youtube keeps the original video forever so the av1 will be transcoded from that as well
vp9 usually is the worst quality unless it’s format 616 aka 1080p premium enhanced bitrate, but only few videos have that