360-Degree and VR Video Formats: Equirectangular, MP4, and Beyond

360-degree and VR video exists in a strange technical middle ground. At its core, it's just a video file — MP4, MOV, WebM. But the projection mathematics, metadata requirements, and rendering expectations are fundamentally different from conventional video. A 360-degree video uploaded to YouTube without the right metadata plays as a distorted flat video with no interactivity. A VR video sent to a Meta Quest headset in the wrong format won't load at all.

This guide covers the technical requirements for creating, converting, and distributing immersive video content across the major platforms and devices.

Understanding 360 Video Projections

A 360-degree camera captures in all directions simultaneously and stitches the footage into a single flat image that can be mapped back onto a sphere during playback. The projection format determines how this happens.

Equirectangular (ERP) — The Standard

Equirectangular projection maps the sphere to a 2:1 aspect ratio rectangle. The top of the image corresponds to straight up; the bottom to straight down; the horizontal axis wraps 360 degrees. Everything at the equator appears at correct scale; the poles are stretched.

Nearly all 360-degree cameras (GoPro MAX, Insta360, Ricoh Theta, DJI Osmo) output equirectangular. Virtually all 360-degree video platforms expect equirectangular input. It's the lingua franca of 360 video.

A correct equirectangular 360 video has a 2:1 aspect ratio. Common resolutions:

Note the critical implication: only a fraction of the total image is visible at any given moment. At any point in time, you're looking at roughly 90–120 degrees of the full 360-degree sphere, so the effective viewed resolution is much lower than the file resolution. A 4K equirectangular video delivers roughly 540p visible quality in a headset. This is why 360 video demands significantly higher resolution than conventional video to look good.

Stereoscopic (3D 360) — For True VR

For full virtual reality with depth perception, you need stereoscopic 360 video: two offset perspective recordings stitched together. The left-eye and right-eye views are combined in the same video frame:

Over/Under (TB — Top/Bottom): Left eye on top half, right eye on bottom half. Used by YouTube, Meta, and most platforms. Resolution effectively halved vertically for each eye.

Side by Side (SBS): Left and right views next to each other. Less common for 360 (aspect ratio becomes 4:1), but used in some workflows.

Cubemap and Other Projections

Cubemap (Equi-Angular Cubemap, EAC): Maps the sphere to the six faces of a cube. More computationally efficient to decode than equirectangular and produces better pixel distribution. YouTube uses EAC internally after accepting equirectangular uploads. Some VR engines prefer cubemap for rendering.

Fisheye/Dual Fisheye: Many cameras output raw fisheye footage that requires stitching before creating equirectangular. GoPro MAX, Insta360, and similar cameras handle this stitching in their companion apps.

For distribution, always convert to equirectangular — it's universally accepted. Platforms handle internal projection conversion as needed.