Chroma subsampling is a type of compression that reduces the color information in a signal in favor of luminance data. This reduces bandwidth without significantly affecting picture quality. ... This allows you to maintain picture clarity while effectively reducing the file size up to 50%.

Is chroma subsampling bad?

Effects of Chroma Subsampling

Since chroma subsampling is, in effect, a partial reduction in resolution, its effects are in line with what you might expect from that. Most notably, fine text can be affected significantly, so chroma subsampling is generally considered unacceptable for desktop use.

Which chroma subsampling is best?

Answer: 4:4:4 is uncompressed and therefore provides the best image quality, whereas 4:2:2 and 4:2:0 sacrifice color quality for a lower data rate.