Archive notice: This article was originally published on July 12, 2010. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
On Friday, YouTube announced that its integrated player now supports 4K, corresponding to a pixel resolution of 4069 by 3072. This means that the amount of data is approximately four times that of Full HD video with 1080 lines. An enormous amount of internet bandwidth is therefore needed to watch the videos smoothly.
But it does not end with the internet connection – to actually see the material at full resolution, special equipment is also required, such as specialist displays or a projector of good IMAX-cinema quality. There are also compression artefacts, which are much more visible than in lower-resolution videos. But if you nevertheless want to try it – or own a high-end private cinema – you will find all videos available so far at the monster resolution collected in a list (see link below)
Further Links:
- YouTube 4K Channel
