If you’ve been trying to figure out the best settings for iMovie when you want to export a video – for maximum quality, yet fast viewing/downloading, in a format compatible with most people’s computers – here are the settings I’ve found work best:

Go to SHARE –> Export Using QuickTime

and then use the following settings:

VIDEO

Video Format: H.264
Data Rate: 2000 kbits/sec
Optimized for: [leave blank]
Image Size: 640 x 480 VGA
Preserve aspect ratio using: [leave blank]
Frame Rate: 30
Key Frame: Every 30 frames

AUDIO

Audio Format: AAC-LC (Music)
Data Rate: 320 kbps
Channels: Stereo
Output Sample Rate: 48.000 kHz
Encoding Quality: Best

STREAMING

Enable Streaming: check the box
Maximum packet size: 1450 bytes
Maximum packet duration: 100 ms
Optimize for Server: [leave blank]

Hope that helps! And let me know in the COMMENTS section below if you’ve found anything that works better.

Remember too, that rather than hosting/streaming your own video on your own site, you’ll get much faster play times if you use a commercial service like YouTube or Viddler – both are free. You set up an account, upload your video and then get the embed code so you can place the video on your site – you can also customize the code to adjust the size of video you want to show on your site,