<p>More than 'what do I need', you should ask yourself 'how much am I allowed'.</p>

<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD-Video" rel="nofollow">This page</a> mentions an average bitrate of 4-5 Mbits/s, this is audio + video + subtitles. It also depends on the length of your content (as you also have a maximum capacity of about 4.7 Gb for a single layer DVD-Video).</p>

<p>FLAC is not supported on DVD-Video, common audio codecs are MPEG1-L2 and ac3.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-09-12T20:52:08.897Z
2015-09-12T20:52:08.897Z
audionuma
<p>I would take a page from Amazon and say that you should limit bitrate to 6.5 Mbps for audio and video combined but make full use of that ceiling, as much as the 4.7 GB single-layer DVD size allows.</p>

<h2>Audio</h2>

<p>The allowed codecs are MP2, Dolby AC-3 and PCM. I'd recommend MP2 with a bitrate between 192 to 256 kbps for stereo audio.</p>

<h2>Video</h2>

<p>Codec is MPEG-2. A couple of things to note: the picture isn't composed of square pixels, so the displayed picture ratio isn't 1.25; it will be 1.33 (4:3).</p>

<p>And it is possible to present an uncropped widescreen (16:9) picture without letterboxing. How to do so, depends on the software you are using to convert and/or author the DVD. But basically, when converting you ought to set the display aspect ratio to 16:9.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-09-13T06:28:11.297Z
Hmm...so you mean I can make dvd that can present 16:9 video uncropped? That would be great, but how is.it possible.to present it without letterboxing? I can't imagine it ...
WhatWhereWhen
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-09-13T06:50:40.123Z
Ah, sorry, I missed that your display is physically 4:3, then of course, there will be black bars. But on a widescreen display, a DVD can display uncropped with no bars.
Gyan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-09-13T05:15:02.377Z
2015-09-13T05:15:02.377Z
Gyan
<p>I have videos with ~5000 kbps of avg. bitrate, if I burn the videos to a PAL DVD, which the resolution is low...(720x576), with 1000 avg. bitrate, will it be obvious to see the difference in quality? If so, can you suggest how much bitrate do I need in a dvd video? I prefer better quality and lower in size. Since the ratio of PAL DVD is 1.25, but the videos' ratio is 1.7 (originally 1080p), will the side being cropped or shrinked until it fit the width? (First time trying :D) <br><br>
Let say if this is my TV's size, exactly 720x576 :</p>

<p><img src="https://s2.postimg.org/wqi0q3ho9/cs1.jpg"></p>

<p>And also, how much audio bitrate do I need (normally I use AAC 128 kbps when watching on pc)? Some video's audio codec is 16-bit, 2 channel FLAC, is it recommended using FLAC instead of AAC in dvd?<br><br>
Thanks.</p>

<video><dvd>
How much video & audio bitrate do I need for dvd videos?
WhatWhereWhen
# How much video & audio bitrate do I need for dvd videos?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-09-12)

I have videos with ~5000 kbps of avg. bitrate, if I burn the videos to a PAL DVD, which the resolution is low...(720x576), with 1000 avg. bitrate, will it be obvious to see the difference in quality? If so, can you suggest how much bitrate do I need in a dvd video? I prefer better quality and lower in size. Since the ratio of PAL DVD is 1.25, but the videos' ratio is 1.7 (originally 1080p), will the side being cropped or shrinked until it fit the width? (First time trying :D)   
  
Let say if this is my TV's size, exactly 720x576 :

![](https://s2.postimg.org/wqi0q3ho9/cs1.jpg)

And also, how much audio bitrate do I need (normally I use AAC 128 kbps when watching on pc)? Some video's audio codec is 16-bit, 2 channel FLAC, is it recommended using FLAC instead of AAC in dvd?  
  
Thanks.

**Tags:** video, dvd


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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2015-09-12. Score: 1

More than 'what do I need', you should ask yourself 'how much am I allowed'.

[This page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD-Video) mentions an average bitrate of 4-5 Mbits/s, this is audio + video + subtitles. It also depends on the length of your content (as you also have a maximum capacity of about 4.7 Gb for a single layer DVD-Video).

FLAC is not supported on DVD-Video, common audio codecs are MPEG1-L2 and ac3.


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### Answer by username_2 on 2015-09-13. Score: 0

I would take a page from Amazon and say that you should limit bitrate to 6.5 Mbps for audio and video combined but make full use of that ceiling, as much as the 4.7 GB single-layer DVD size allows.

## Audio

The allowed codecs are MP2, Dolby AC-3 and PCM. I'd recommend MP2 with a bitrate between 192 to 256 kbps for stereo audio.

## Video

Codec is MPEG-2. A couple of things to note: the picture isn't composed of square pixels, so the displayed picture ratio isn't 1.25; it will be 1.33 (4:3).

And it is possible to present an uncropped widescreen (16:9) picture without letterboxing. How to do so, depends on the software you are using to convert and/or author the DVD. But basically, when converting you ought to set the display aspect ratio to 16:9.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Hmm...so you mean I can make dvd that can present 16:9 video uncropped? That would be great, but how is.it possible.to present it without letterboxing? I can't imagine it ...  
> **username_2**: Ah, sorry, I missed that your display is physically 4:3, then of course, there will be black bars. But on a widescreen display, a DVD can display uncropped with no bars.  

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