Youtube began an experiment in 2022 introducing 4K resolution as an exclusive feature for subscribers to its Premium plan, but the controversy the move caused caused it to back off. However, the platform is not giving 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 quickly came to explain what they are doing with the new experiment around the 1080p resolution. Paul Pennington, a spokesperson for the Google (or Alphabet) subsidiary, explained to The Verge that “1080p Premium is a stream-enhanced version of 1080p that provides more information per pixel, resulting in higher viewing quality.“.

In other words, 1080p resolution will not be removed from the standard YouTube experience available to 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 1080p resolution will continue to be available to users who consume content without paying With the subscription plan, concerns about the possible deterioration of the experience with such a configuration began to appear, not without reason, although the company has already stated that there will be no change to the standard experience.

1080p, as our readers probably already know, refers to a resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels, the most popular among PC monitors, although it has been going downhill for years. However, just because a video is 1080p doesn’t mean it’s good image quality in and of itself, and factors like bitrate and color depth come into play there.

As explained by The Verge, 1080p video stored on Blu-ray is able to provide a maximum speed of 40 megabits per second, while YouTube ranges between 8 and 10 at the same resolution. Factors such as the codec with the codec in which the video is compressed, which will offer the better the quality, the more efficient it is. On the other hand, a higher bit rate would, at least initially, improve the image quality, and the fact that the resolution chosen for the Premium plan is 1080p will make the experience more appealing, as it will be closer to what most people use via PC and mobile.

Another aspect to consider is that YouTube does not display video files that are uploaded at their maximum bitrate, as this is expensive on both the server and client levels. The lower the bit rate, the lower the image quality of the video, but also the bandwidth it takes up during transmission from the platform servers to the client, which can be an application or a web browser.

We’ll see how this new experiment of offering an enhanced 1080p experience for YouTube Premium users pans out. Whether it ends up working out or not, this attempt seems to pull the platform much better.