The rules at a glance
These are the rules for LCME (London College of Music Examinations) digital recorded exams, paraphrased from the board's quick guide to filming. The quick guide is the authority; check it, and your syllabus, before you upload.
- Size. At most 1GB, the smallest limit of the three boards these guides cover. The board writes the limit in GB. Reelpass reads 1 GB as 1,000,000,000 bytes, the smaller reading, so a file under it is under either reading.
- Format. mp4 is preferred; mov is also accepted.
- Recording. The guide advises 720p at 30 frames per second, a static camera on a tripod, and HDR turned off.
- One take. Since 1 March 2025 every exam component is recorded in one continuous take, with no cuts or edits between sections.
- Sound. A single microphone, and no effects or processing on the audio.
- Camera view. Your whole face, your hands and your instrument stay in view throughout, and your feet too if you play the piano and use the pedals.
- No prompting. Nobody cues or prompts you during the performance.
- ID. The quick guide lists an ID document to upload with the submission, not to show on camera.
- File name. Letters, numbers, underscores and dashes only (a Reelpass suggestion; the guide gives no file name rule).
What one continuous take means here
The one take rule applies to exams recorded since 1 March 2025. Every component your exam has, whether pieces, technical work or discussion, goes into the same recording. Page turns, retuning and the gaps between sections stay in the recording: the camera keeps running and nothing is cut out afterwards. Have your scores in performance order so the gaps stay short.
Worked example
One continuous take for every component makes long files, and 1GB is not much room. Here is how the Reelpass planner handles a long recording made at a high frame rate.
- Source: 2.90 GB, 1920 by 1080 at 60 frames per second, 30:00 long.
- Target: 960.0 MB, which is the limit less a safety margin.
- Sound, copied untouched at 128 kbps: 28.8 MB.
- Container overhead: 2.3 MB.
- Left for the picture: 928.9 MB, or 4.1 Mbps over the running time.
- Frame rate: the planner keeps every second frame, giving 30 frames per second, which matches the guide's advice and halves the number of pictures to pay for.
- Picture: 1280 by 720 at 4.1 Mbps.
- Expected file: about 960.0 MB, just inside the target.
Here the whole budget is used. A recording made at 720p and 30 frames per second in the first place would need less squeezing and would look the same or better.
The guide to shrinking an exam video explains each line of this arithmetic.
Setting up
Put the phone or camera on a tripod and leave it there; the guide asks for a static camera. Turn HDR off, as the guide advises. Choose 720p at 30 frames per second in the camera settings before you start, and test the framing with a short clip so your face, hands and instrument are all in view.
Common mistakes
- Recording pieces and technical work as separate files, or cutting between them.
- Filming at 4K or at 60 frames per second and ending up far over 1GB.
- Using an app that adds reverb, noise reduction or other processing to the sound.
- Moving the camera during the take.
- Forgetting the ID document that goes with the submission.
- Deleting the original after compressing. Keep it until the result is back.
When the file is ready, check its size, format and name in your browser and compress it there if it is over the limit. Nothing is uploaded.
Sources
Checked on 27 September 2026. Every rule here is paraphrased from the page named, read on the date shown. Boards change their guidance; the board's own page is the authority, so check it before you upload.
- Quick guide to filming your LCME Digital Recorded exam (PDF). LCME (London College of Music Examinations) digital recorded exams, read 27 September 2026. Version 1.1, February 2025. https://lcme.uwl.ac.uk/media/rfmnbrbt/quick-guide-to-lcme-digital-recorded-exams.pdf