Just realised default YouTube playback is SD 480

[sparkthego]

Something that you may or may not already know, YouTube dropped the default resolution to 480 for all playback. This was done in 2020 in response to increased network load during COVID pandemic. You can change it manually in your playback settings but it will automatically revet in a month.

This lead me to question, why do I produce 1080 or 720 video's at say 15MPBS when YouTube will just chop it. Would it not be better to spend my 15MBPS on a 480 and get a better pixel by pixel depth quality. in this case even a 10MBPS @480 would be better than a chopped HD @15MPBS video if you do the math.

Although I've only been in YouTube for a couple of months, rest assure i've been involved in videography and streaming for over 15 years and over the years the well known idea of "less is more' has come up many times. I'm wondering if this is another situation where this can be applied for better overall quality. I'll be experimenting in my future videos.

Anyone else had thoughts about this?

 

[Theodor]

I have not noticed youtube changing video quality, except on my phone, in case I have a poor connection.
On my phone I usually have it 480 or 360 anyway, because for me it seems pointless to use higher resolution on so small screen. Then again, I rarely watch videos on small screen, so for majority of my playback time, youtube has not done anything with the resolution, for the past several years.
There used to be a setting, for this, in the profile, where you set your default viewing resolution. I am not sure if this exists now days, but you could check, maybe that will solve your issue?

 

[Hippo-Drones]

Mine seems to default to the highest resolution, but I do remember hearing something like that happening during covid, maybe they have turned that off now?

As for playback on YouTube, you would possibly be right, if people only watched in 480, but I can't imagine anyone would pay for a fancy 4k monitor, and leave it at 480p to watch things on???

There is also another issue, YouTube nerfs the quality of our videos, and unless you are a large channel, YouTube gives all videos that are 1080 or lower a rubbish codec, which utterly nerfs your videos. For videos of 2.7k or higher, YouTube gives the VP9 codec, which is a world better... no a universe better!

My GoPro records 1080 at around 80,000 kbps, which YouTube would nerf down to around 15,000kbps if I didn't cheat. I record at 1080/50 but I render when editing at 2.7k/50 which means YouTube gives me the full 80,000 kbps without compressing it too much as it thinks it is a 2.7k video, and even if the viewer watches it at 1080 rather than 2.7k, it still gets the good codec, so doesn't get compressed.

The only thing you have to think about with this method, is scheduling your uploads instead of uploading and setting them as live straight away, upload them the day before and schedule the live date/time for 24hrs later, or whatever your regular video post goes out at. That then gives YouTube time to fully render your video to the 2.7k you have uploaded it as.

 

[Moto Mengy]

I haven't noticed YT dropping any default resolutions for me, mine always defaults to 1080p.

 

[sparkthego]

Mine seems to default to the highest resolution, but I do remember hearing something like that happening during covid, maybe they have turned that off now?

Very interesting, I should investigate more,

As for playback on YouTube, you would possibly be right, if people only watched in 480, but I can't imagine anyone would pay for a fancy 4k monitor, and leave it at 480p to watch things on???

But don't forget it's not full screen by default.

The only thing you have to think about with this method, is scheduling your uploads instead of uploading and setting them as live straight away, upload them the day before and schedule the live date/time for 24hrs later, or whatever your regular video post goes out at. That then gives YouTube time to fully render your video to the 2.7k you have uploaded it as.

Will give it a go, my last video was rubbish quality but I realised I accidently rendered at 5MBPS. My other videos are better but I'm still not fully satisfied with the playback quality.

 

[sparkthego]

I haven't noticed YT dropping any default resolutions for me, mine always defaults to 1080p.

hmmm, very interesting.

 

[R-Rated]

Here is a thread covering tricking YouTube for a better codec

Guide - Making 1080p60 look like 4K by getting YouTube's bigger bit rate

To followup with Hippo-Drones video crediting me with the theory, I made a video showing a bit more of the process. I made this just for small YouTube creators so I may not be releasing the instructional video public anytime soon. Additionally, I loaded the end result videos to YouTube each on...

motovlog.com

It is not as important when the footage does not have as much movement but most motovlogs have tons of movement.

Also the playback setting of mobile devices is still around though I still have to toggle it to play 4K. You pointing out it reverts back makes sense.

 

[Theodor]

But don't forget it's not full screen by default.

If you keep it on the cinematic, or what ever it's called, regime, that's pretty much the whole width of the screen, it remember that too. So it usually starts pretty big still. On 24"+ screens you can see the resolution difference quite clearly, even like that.

 

[sparkthego]

On 24"+ screens you can see the resolution difference quite clearly, even like that.

Yeah, I agree, 480 on a 24”+4k monitor would look quite offensive.

 

[sparkthego]

Despite what YouTube may or may not be doing on playback, I don't think I ever will put out anything less than 720p ( I want to maintain some dignity at least)

 

[huber872]

When I was uploading my first vlog I couldn’t get playback higher than 480 on my phone. I went through the settings on YouTube, my phone, everything suggested above was done. Had fantastic service as well.

I deleted the video a few different times and reupload in 4K. Thought it was uploading in 480 max still. Finally I had the intelligence to check on my computer. Saw the little HD button and got to watch my video in 4K! No idea what’s up with the phone though