YouTube vs. Vimeo | In My Humble Opinion

by James M. Williams Jr.
(Alaska USA)


April 1, 2013 - I am a video enthusiast based in Alaska and recently uploaded a few videos to Vimeo. My intention is to briefly share my experience and compare Vimeo with YouTube.

Honestly, there is really no comparison.

Vimeo is so much more superior to YouTube in many ways, without all the annoying ads and popups that YouTube puts in its videos.

YouTube has also made it more annoying by allowing users to insert comments that popup onscreen and distract from any of their videos.

Vimeo isn't frocked with low quality and low resolution videos put out by every yay-hoo that just wants to do it, whether its good, or not, or whether anyone wants to see them or not. YouTube is just filled and overrun with crap! That's my personal opinion anyway.

There was a brief moment in time when YouTube was a great place to go to post videos. Vimeo is far better, and without the distractions or severe limitation restrictions that is YouTube. I'm able to upload and post videos of any length for free and the quality is very good. Not the best, but better than YouTube.

Another huge advantage that Vimeo has over YouTube is the length restrictions. As long as you are able to compress a video below the maximum required size for Vimeo, you can upload the full length no matter how long. With YouTube, you are restricted to a maximum length of only 10 minutes or less and the videos are compressed so small that they are diluted and distorted.

The only videos I saw on YouTube that exceed the length requirements are "Big Corporations" and News Media, with the money to buy the time and ability to post high res videos.

So that's my brief review of YouTube vs. Vimeo.

Do you have an opinion about YouTube vs. Vimeo? Feedback and comments welcome below.

Sincerely,
James M. Williams Jr.
Owner: Raven's Feather Studio & Froglips Productions

Comments for YouTube vs. Vimeo | In My Humble Opinion

Click here to add your own comments

Apr 01, 2013
thanks
by: Desktop Documentaries

Thank you James for sharing your review of Vimeo and YouTube. I think a lot of filmmakers prefer Vimeo for the slick player and obvious attention Vimeo gives to independent filmmakers. Seems to me that YouTube is for the masses and Vimeo is for the visual artists. But hey, maybe that's just me.

Other opinions?

Apr 02, 2013
Depends on your needs
by: Anonymous

Thanks for the post James. I happen to use both sites as well. And while I agree with some of what you said, I do disagree with other parts.

Vimeo does have a much cleaner interface. This is very true. And this serves me well when I want to show a client a draft review of a video or if I want to show a potential client some of my previous work. The people that post to Vimeo do seems to be more on the professional side and I'm not quite sure how Vimeo keeps out the riff-raf.

YouTube is great for me because it is essentially, if not really, the second largest search engine. If I want a new client to find me and I have no idea that they may be searching for me or someone like me, it is in my absolute best interest to have my videos on YouTube so that I can take advantage of Google's lock on internet searches.

YouTube does have feature length shows as well. Simply type in "documentary" and a slew of History channel, Discovery Channel, BBC and other documentary shows will appear. I have no idea how people can upload a show produced by The Discovery Channel. But they do and some of the videos have hundreds of thousands of hits. Maybe they will be taken down one day and maybe by watching these documentaries on YouTube I am contributing to copyright infringement. But when I am bored and the TV has nothing on it, I go to YouTube to be entertained.

Maybe it's like beer vs. wine. Both get the job done, but one just seems to be a little more classy in how it does it.

In the end, I love them both. They make my job so much easier and both keep me entertained.

Thanks again James for the post and comparison.

Nov 01, 2013
My comparison
by: Anonymous

Was this written in 2013?

Yes Vimeo is cleaner and better looking and there's less crappy videos ;) but Youtube videos load faster and it's absolutely possible to upload long videos. I've done so for a long time now. Videos that are one and a half hour long is no problem.

The search engine on Vimeo is really bad but they're working on it. If I go to Vimeo on demand and search for drugs the result is zero. I know there are videos about drugs so that's just the search engine not working. Searching works better on Youtube.

I also agree with the previous comment that Youtube is very big and many go to youtube to find things. I do it all the time.

With a free/basic account on Vimeo there is a GB limit per week and a limit for the amount of HD videos per week. This is not the case on Youtube. I have a pro account on Vimeo so that I can upload how much I want.

So for me I use both Youtube and Vimeo. I'm starting to use Vimeo more than before for example if I want to show important videos to someone and I want them to look clean and nice.
Or if I want to spread a video to other filmmakers and film people. I also love Vimeo on demand (minus the search function that doesn't work).

Jul 30, 2015
Youtube VS Vimeo
by: James

I am seeing a lot of feedback to my comment and review of "Youtube & Vimeo." Thanks to everyone for their input and for sharing their thoughts.

One comment in particular is something that I want to address here. Yes, there are full length videos uploaded to "Youtube.com" but here is what is not widely or publicly known about the full, or feature length videos that CAN be found on "Youtube." The full length videos are uploaded by big name corporations, including ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS and other corporate broadcasting companies. Furthermore, people with the financial means to do so can pay for premium services to youtube, to upload any video in any resolution and length that the common and everyday youtube user does not have access to, including and especially myself. It would be nice to do what the big corporate spenders, the people with excess finances and companies that can afford to do, but the plain truth is, we are all not so fortunate.

This is why I like Vimeo over youtube. Vimeo allows me to upload any video regardless of length, so long as it does not exceed the minimum size requirement. The resolution offered by Vimeo is, or was, better than what youtube offered. Vimeo offers paid options that are affordable with features and options of uploading feature length films without restrictions. When I have the money and time, I will pay for the premium memberships because it is worth the money. Youtube? I'm not so sure about that...

I agree, Vimeo is created for and is geared towards video and filmmaker artists and is better suited to the creative filmmaker, while youtube is much more centered and geared for the masses. Youtube still has its place, but for the creative soul, it can and usually is, a source of frustration. I love the freedom and lack of commercialism that is Vimeo. Thanks for your time and feedback.

James, Anchorage Alaska

Feb 07, 2016
I Love Youtube
by: Richard

I learn many interesting and important subjects
on youtube. Things that otherwise would not have been known. Also, I looked at many long videos.
As for the 'riff raffs', I find some of their stuff to be creative and funny.



Click here to add your own comments

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How? Simply click here to return to Write An Article.

7 Day Documentary Crash Course

Ready To Make Your Dream Documentary?

Sign up for our exclusive 7-day crash course and learn step-by-step how to make a documentary from idea to completed movie! 



Return Home