Encoding begins once you upload a media file to Wistia. During this process, Wistia creates various quality assets to stream to your audience on playback.

If your media upload fails to encode and our status page is all clear, try some of the steps below to get your upload ready to play.

Our number one tip is to ensure that your upload meets our recommended and required export settings, but we’ve outlined some common encoding issues below.

A media that's still in progress (not failed) usually finishes on its own. Large or high-resolution files (e.g., 4K) take longer to encode. If a media has been stuck for more than an hour, or shows "Rendering is taking longer than usual," send our Support Team a link to the media page so we can take a look.

If your media upload fails to process, Wistia likely cannot create the correct derivatives for smooth playback. This error often indicates an issue with the file itself.

First, we recommend re-exporting the file from your media editor and ensuring that it plays in full on your device before uploading it to Wistia again. Check out our Video Software Exporting Guide for a quick overview of our suggested settings for popular editing software.

If you can’t access the original file export, we suggest running the file through HandBrake. HandBrake is a free tool that makes it easy to apply the correct export settings to your upload. Check out our suggested HandBrake settings.

If the issue continues, leave the upload in its failed state and send our Support Team a link to the media to troubleshoot further.

Audio sync issues can result from a low framerate or bitrate. Webinar recordings and screencasts can suffer from this problem.

Increase the framerate and bitrate per our recommendations, then replace the video in Wistia. Otherwise, we’ve got the old standby, HandBrake.

If the out-of-sync media is a Wistia recording and not an uploaded file, the issue was most likely introduced during recording by your camera, microphone, or other hardware limitations. To prevent audio sync issues, make sure to close other apps and browser tabs that use your camera or mic (especially on Windows), since high CPU or memory usage can cause dropped frames and audio. See our recording troubleshooting guide for more tips.

If your media replacement is stuck or fails to process, reach out to our friendly Support Team for help. For the quickest resolution, send us a link to the original file so we can review the export settings and cancel or restart the replacement from our end.

If your Wistia recording or editor export fails to render, call in our Support Team. Share a link to the media in your account and give us a quick outline of your steps so we can get straight to work.