Youtube launched an experiment in 2022 with which it established 4K resolution as an exclusive feature for subscribers of its Premium plan, but the controversy that this measure generated caused it to back down. However, the platform does not give up and has launched a new experiment with a premium version of 1080p resolution.
As it could not be otherwise, seeing the precedent with 4K, those responsible for the platform have come out quickly to explain what they are doing with the new experiment around 1080p resolution. Paul Pennington, spokesman for Google’s subsidiary company (or Alphabet), explained to The Verge that “1080p Premium is an enhanced bitrate version of 1080p that provides more information per pixel, resulting in a higher quality viewing experience.”.
In other words, the 1080p resolution is not going to be removed from the standard YouTube experience, which is present for registered non-paying users and those who enter the platform without a registered account. For now, the new feature is only available to a limited number of YouTube Premium users, a subscription plan that currently costs 11.99 euros per month from Spain.
Despite the 1080p resolution would continue to be available to users who consume the content without paying With the subscription plan, concerns about a possible degradation of the experience with such configuration have begun to arise and not without reason, although the company has already said that there will be no change with the standard experience.
1080p, as our readers will know by now, refers to the resolution of 1,920×1,080 pixels, the most popular among PC monitors despite the fact that it has been going downhill for years. However, the fact that a video has a resolution of 1080p does not mean that it has good image quality by itself, and that is where factors such as bit rate and color depth come in.
As explained by The Verge, a 1080p video stored on a Blu-ray is capable of providing a maximum rate of 40 megabits per second, while YouTube at the same resolution ranges between 8 and 10. Factors such as the codec with the one in which the video is compressed, which will offer a better quality the more efficient it is. On the other hand, a higher bit rate, at least initially, would improve image quality, and the fact that the resolution selected for the Premium plan is 1080p will make the experience reach more people by being closer to what most people use via PC and mobile.
Another aspect to take into account is that YouTube does not show the video files that are uploaded at their maximum bit rate because it is expensive both at the server and client level. The lower the bit rate, the lower the image quality of the video, but also the bandwidth it occupies in the transmission from the platform servers to the client, which can be an application or a web browser.
We will see how this new experiment of offering an improved experience with 1080p resolution for YouTube Premium users ends. Whether or not it comes to fruition in the end, it seems that this attempt is much better pulled by the platform.
