Shotcut's own FAQ answers this with a list of scenarios, not a single winner. The entry titled "Which Export preset should I use?" opens with "It all depends; that is why there are so many of them! But here are some suggestions:" and then names a preset for six specific situations.
That list is worth reading exactly as written rather than through a third-party summary. Below it is reproduced scenario by scenario, followed by the part most roundups skip: where the official documentation stops.
The six scenarios Shotcut's FAQ actually covers
| What you are doing | Preset the FAQ suggests |
|---|---|
| Upload to a video-sharing web site | H.264 High Profile or YouTube |
| Extract the audio | Ogg Vorbis, FLAC (lossless with compression), or good old MP3 |
| Save to an intermediate file to use with another tool | DNxHR HQ or ProRes 422 - really depends on what the other tool accepts |
| Put onto my own web site | WebM and/or Default (moderate quality H.264) |
| Screen recording (Linux only) | intermediate/MJPEG |
| Capture from SDI/HDMI | intermediate/ProRes 422 if your system can handle it, otherwise intermediate/MPEG-2 |
Two qualifiers in that table are Shotcut's own words and get dropped constantly when the list is copied around.
The first is "(Linux only)" on the screen-recording row. That parenthetical is in the official text; the FAQ does not give a screen-recording row for any other operating system. The second is on the intermediate rows: ProRes 422 is suggested "if your system can handle it", with intermediate/MPEG-2 as the stated fallback, and the DNxHR HQ / ProRes 422 pick "really depends on what the other tool accepts". These are conditional recommendations, not defaults.
You are not actually required to pick one
This is the single most useful sentence in the Shotcut User Guide for anyone agonising over the preset dropdown:
"NOTE: It is not necessary to choose a preset! Shotcut comes with default values that creates a high quality H.264 MP4 file at a reasonable size and speed that automatically adapts to the resolution, frame rate, and visual complexity of your project. Clicking Reset or the preset named Default restores the panel to its default values."
The guide is equally blunt about the opposite reflex — opening Advanced and turning knobs:
"Click Advanced to show many more controls and options. However, by clicking Advanced you should understand that Shotcut expects you to be advanced and know what you are doing. There are simply too many combinations of settings and options that Shotcut's advanced export mode lets you create invalid combinations and does not protect you from yourself."
If you are here because an export came out wrong, Reset is a legitimate first move.
The official wording on Default is not consistent
The User Guide (dated June 2026) calls the default values "a high quality H.264 MP4 file at a reasonable size and speed". The FAQ, describing the same preset, writes it as "Default (moderate quality H.264)".
High quality in one official document, moderate quality in another, for the same thing. Neither page attaches a number to either description, so there is no way to reconcile the two from the documentation — treat Default as a reasonable web setting and judge the result with your own eyes.
One data point suggests Default is not the top of the range: Shotcut's release notes for Release 25.01.25 record that "Export preset H.264 High Profile now defaults to a higher quality 65% than YouTube or the defaults." That is a note about what changed in that version, not a statement about the current build, but it does place H.264 High Profile above both YouTube and the defaults on the quality dial.
Where the official guidance stops
This is the part worth knowing before you go hunting for a "best settings" table.
- There is no published catalogue of the stock presets. Across the official FAQ, features page, release notes and User Guide, individual preset names appear scattered — H.264 High Profile, YouTube, WebM, Default, DNxHR HQ, ProRes 422, intermediate/MJPEG, intermediate/MPEG-2, the lossless and 10-bit families, alpha/VP8 and alpha/VP9, D10, XDCAM — but none of those pages lays out the full list or the parameters behind any of them.
- The Quality percentage is never mapped to a CRF value in those pages. Third-party posts that equate a percentage with a specific CRF number are not quoting Shotcut.
- The User Guide's own example configurations are deliberately partial. Its "Online platform delivery" example specifies container MP4, codec H.264 and frame rate "Match source"; the archival example specifies container MOV or MKV, codec ProRes or high-quality H.264, resolution "Match source", quality "High or lossless". The guide suggests a mid-range quality percentage for draft exports and a somewhat higher one for web delivery — see the guide for the exact numbers.
- The guide prefaces those examples with a warning that applies to this whole page: "Using presets assumes you understand the implications of the selected settings."
So the honest summary is: pick the row from the FAQ table that matches your output, leave everything else alone, and check the current settings in the official documentation before copying numbers from anywhere else.
When the preset is right but the file is too big
Choosing H.264 High Profile for a YouTube upload does not help if the result is too heavy to send somewhere else afterwards. You cannot fix that inside Shotcut by rewrapping: the User Guide states that Shotcut can not pass through or copy codecs without re-encoding. The one partial exception, Properties > menu > Extract sub-clip, rounds to the nearest keyframe, which the guide warns "could be more than a second a way from the selected in/out points", and the FAQ adds that it "is not frame accurate and there are some pitfalls".
Re-encoding is therefore unavoidable, and you do not have to do it by exporting the whole timeline again:
Try it right here
Runs in your browser. Your file is not uploaded anywhere.
That runs in your browser tab — the file is read from disk, re-encoded locally and handed back, never uploaded. It is the fastest way to test whether a smaller version still looks acceptable before you commit to re-exporting from Shotcut with different settings. If what you actually need is a container change on a QuickTime file, MOV to MP4 does that job directly. More options are listed in all Clapr tools.
A preset is not a guarantee
The User Guide spells out what presets are not: "Project templates Guaranteed-safe configurations Automatically compatible with all codecs or hardware encoders". It then lists the common pitfalls — "Choosing a codec not supported by the selected container Enabling hardware encoding with unsupported formats Mixing incompatible pixel formats or profiles" — and the consequences: "Cause export failure Produce unplayable files Result in silent audio or missing video".
That last line is the official explanation for exports that finish but come back silent or with no picture.
Hardware encoding interacts with presets too. The guide notes that "Some export presets may not support hardware encoders", and that if a preset is used where the hardware encoder is unavailable, "The export may fail Shotcut may fall back to software encoding Results may differ from expectation". Those are listed as possibilities, not a promise of graceful fallback.
Saving your own preset
Once you have a combination that works, keep it. Per the User Guide: "Presets are saved as files in the presets > encode folder in the app data directory (Settings > App Data Directory > Show). You can share these with others. You must restart Shotcut after manually adding preset files in order for Shotcut to see them."
The restart requirement catches people out. So does the shape of the file: the guide describes a preset as "really a list of thing to change from the defaults", so anything left in the box is an override, not a full configuration.
FAQ
Which Shotcut export preset is best for YouTube? Shotcut's FAQ suggests H.264 High Profile or YouTube for uploading to a video-sharing web site. The release notes for Release 25.01.25 record that H.264 High Profile was changed to default to a higher quality than YouTube or the defaults.
Is the Default preset good enough? The User Guide describes the default values as producing a high quality H.264 MP4 at a reasonable size and speed; the FAQ calls the same preset moderate quality H.264. Neither attaches a number, so judge it on your own footage.
Which preset should I use for a screen recording? The FAQ's answer is intermediate/MJPEG, and it carries the official qualifier "(Linux only)". That FAQ entry does not list a screen-recording preset for other platforms.
Which preset exports only the audio? Ogg Vorbis, FLAC (lossless with compression), or good old MP3, per the FAQ. Note that the release notes for Release 26.6.25 state that Shotcut's Ogg integration does not support cover art.
Will my subtitles be included in the export? The User Guide says subtitles are embedded in the output "if the file format supports it", naming MKV, MOV and MP4 as formats that commonly support them. Subtitle export to a separate file is SRT only, so if you need WebVTT for a web player, convert it afterwards with SRT to VTT.
All quotations are from Shotcut's official FAQ, Features page, release notes and the Shotcut User Guide (June 2026), checked against a September 2026 snapshot. Presets and defaults change between releases — verify against the current documentation. More software export guides are collected in our guides hub, and a comparable walkthrough for another editor is CapCut's export settings explained.
