(How-To) Best upload for Vimeo.

If you edit your own videos and upload to Vimeo this is the way to get the best quality.

Do as little compressing as possible.
Every time footage is compressed it loses quality. Through your edit process try and keep your files in the format they came out of the camera. Most edit programs require certain file types and do their own compression automatically. iMovie is a good example of this. Even top end programs like FCP7 aren’t happy with some file types and require you to compress/re-encode before editing. See if you can set your camera to capture the footage in a file suitable to your software.

Do as little effects and image manipulation as possible.
Clips that require rendering within the edit program reduces their quality. Slow-motion, image stabilisation, adjusting colour and brightness all reduce quality. Shoot better, of course some clips are to good to leave out and manipulating them is necessary

When you have finished editing you want to export your video to you computer using “Vimeo’s Settings”.
These are;

https://vimeo.com/help/compression
Video
  •  Codec: H.264?A codec is the format in which your video will be encoded. Different codecs have different features and varying quality. For best results, we recommend using H.264 (sometimes referred to as MP4).
  •  Frame rate: 24, 25, or 30 FPS?If you know at which frame rate you shot, it is best to encode at that same frame rate. However, if it exceeds 30 FPS (frames per second), you should encode your video at half that frame rate. For example, if you shot 60 FPS, you should encode at 30 FPS. If you’re uncertain what frame rate you shot at, set it to either “Current” or 30 FPS. If there is an option for keyframes, use the same value you used for frame rate.
  •  Data rate: 2000 kbps (SD), 5000 kbps (HD)?This setting controls both the visual quality of the video and its file size. In most video editors, this is measured of kilobits per second (kbps). Use 2000 kbps for standard definition or 5000 kbps for high definition video.
  •  Resolution: 640x480 (SD), 1280x720 (HD)?Choose 640×480 for 4:3 SD video, 640×360 for 16:9 SD video, and 1280×720 or 1920×1080 for HD. If you have the option to control the pixel aspect ratio (not the display aspect ratio), make sure it’s set to “1:1” or “1.00,” sometimes referred to as “square pixels.”
  •  Deinterlacing: Maybe?If you are shooting on an older camera, enable the deinterlacing option. Otherwise, you may get weird-looking horizontal lines in your video. With newer camera models, deinterlacing shouldn’t be an issue, so you can leave this option unchecked.
Audio
  •  Codec: AAC (Advanced Audio Codec)?For best results, we recommend using AAC for the audio codec.
  •  Data rate: 320 kbps?320 kbps is the highest quality audio data rate we currently support.
  •  Sample rate: 44.1 kHz?44.1 kHz is the highest audio sample rate we currently support.

I have found you can reduce your file size (and improve upload speed) greatly by finding a medium between resolution and data-rate.
Sometimes 480@5000kbps works well and sometimes 720@3000kbps will get a big file down to a manageable size. Reducing audio sample rate will make a big difference to large files - you can reduce the sample rate a fair amount before quality is effected. And take note if you camera captures in mono!
(NOTE: 480@5000 is usually better than .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). It often depends on what your video content is).
Vimeo doesn’t seem to be affected by using a data-rate outside of 2000(SD) and 5000(HD). In this case I find 720@4500 to be a good compromise.

Don’t bother uploading 1080. Vimeo will re-encode it to 720 anyway.
If you upload matching Vimeo’s settings they will not re-encode and what is played-back will be the same as what you exported to your computer.