So I made a montage using Shotcut and have done in the past and when I went to export as an MP4 like usual when I go to open it on my downloads it plays it in the Windows Media Player and says “ Windows Media Player cannot play the file. The player might not support the file type or might not support the codec that was used to compress this file” Why is this and what should I do so I can upload it onto my YouTube channel.
Any help would be much appreciated
Are you talking about the old windows media player or the new photo’s video player?
Try to upload the video on youtube and set the visibility to private, So only you can see it and then see if it works on youtube.
And the best possibility is that you have chose invalid export setting, as shotcut doesn’t prevent you from making invalid export settings.
If you open the exported file in Shotcut, can Shotcut play it? Maybe the file is good but is not supported by Windows Media Player.
This may be more than you wanted to know, but it is helpful if you are doing very much video editing: saving a video as MP4 generally only means that the “container” is MP4; it does not necessarily dictate what codecs are used on the video and audio streams inside.
I find that Windows can be extremely picky about which codec combinations it will play. This is one reason I prefer Linux. 
I taught a mini-class back in January on basic video editing; here are some YouTube tutorials that discuss how video files are actually stored, the difference between the container and the codecs, the ways video is compressed, etc. No affiliation with any of these channels - these are just some videos I found that were useful to provide as reference for the class:
• 📺 LEARN Video Resolutions - 480 SD, 720 HD, 1080 FHD. 4K UHD and beyond - YouTube . A quick overview of common video
resolutions (SD, HD, FHD, UHD) and description of interlaced vs. progressive video.
• Video Bit Rate: An Easy Overview (2021) - YouTube . A brief introduction to bit rates.
• Codecs and Formats Explained! (And Why You're Probably Wrong) - YouTube . A brief introduction to containers
and codecs.
• Video Formats, Codecs and Containers (Explained) - YouTube . A discussion of video formats,
codecs, and containers, plus information on how one might choose among them
particularly for uploading to YouTube.
• Video Compression as Fast As Possible - YouTube . A quick introduction to image and
video compression. (Note that the last minute of the video is an advertisement.)
• How to Understand Codecs - YouTube . More technical description about color
formats, codecs, and how they work. One very minor quibble: this video states that
“codec” is a compound of “compressor – decompressor,” but most technical discussions
identify “codec” as a compount of “coder – decoder.”
• Image File Formats - JPEG, GIF, PNG - YouTube . An introduction to image formats,
including a comparison of “lossy” and “lossless” compression. (Note that the last 1:20 of
the video is an advertisement.)
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