What is the “Original” quality option on YouTube videos?

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Posted March 12, 2011 by Corey Harris in Uncategorized

On July 9, 2010, YouTube introduced the Original quality option to YouTube videos.
If a video on YouTube has the original quality option on it, it means that it has been uploaded to YouTube in a higher resolution then 1080p (1920×1080).
A couple of example resolutions are 2K (2048×1152), and 4K (4096×2304). When a video is uploaded with a higher resolution
than 1920×1080, it will get the quality options (240p, 360p, 480p, 720pHD 1080pHD, as well as original). See image below of example;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Because 4K represents the highest quality of video available, there are a few limitations that you should be aware of. First off, video cameras that shoot in 4K or 2K aren’t cheap, and projectors that show videos in 4K or 2K are typically the size of a small refrigerator. Watching these videos on YouTube will require super-fast broadband.

To view some 4K videos on YouTube, have a look at this playlist.


About the Author

Corey Harris

Corey is a 16 year old video editor and graphic designer. He has been creating tutorials on YouTube for over 2 years now. Through AquuL.com, Corey provides video tutorials and templates for Sony Vegas and Adobe Photoshop.
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  • Mieshuora

    There must be more into this because this video for example: http://youtu.be/iawnBomw9YU has the Original option yet the resolution is just 1440×1080

    • AquuL

      The video may not have been uploaded with that resolution, how are you sure?

  • XzJUGG3ERNAUTzX

    lol i put a video on youtube with my iPhone and it gave the option original

  • Alex

    at first i thought that having a camera with 4k resolution was bad, now i think overwise :)
    because when i tried to paste something in photoshop, it is way too huge.

  • AgEnT x19

    the playlist doesn’t play very good on my computer even when it’s finished buffering, probably because of my crap graphics card + I only have 2GB of RAM

    • http://www.aquul.com/ AquuL

      Yeah, running 4K videos uses a lot of CPU & Graphic Card processing. It could just be your version of flash player though, check you’re running on the latest version. Later flash players have more support for such quality.

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