YouTube Stops H.264 4K Encoding; Will Apple Get on
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Posted On: 01/28/2017 10:36:15 AM
YouTube Stops H.264 4K Encoding; Will Apple Get on Board?
Apple Safari has never supported VP8 or VP9, but a move by Google's YouTube pressures it to do so: Safari users can't see new 4K videos on YouTube.
By Jan Ozer
Posted on January 25, 2017
Apple Safari is the only current browser that doesn’t support Google’s VP9. In a move that may go a long way towards convincing Apple to do so, YouTube has stopped encoding 4K video in H.264 format, to focus on “delivering the best 4K experience exclusively through VP9.” This means that while YouTube visitors using Chrome, Firefox, Opera and Edge can watch 4K, those running Safari can't.
Since late December 2016, multiple magazines and blogs have reported that the 4K option has disappeared for new YouTube 4K videos played in Safari. You can see this in the figure below, which is from the Injustice 2 Story Trailer published by YouTube on January 21, 2017. On the left is the quality selector in Chrome, which shows a 4K option, on the right is Safari, which tops out at 1440p.
To verify that YouTube discontinued 4K H.264 encodes, we checked with YouTube, and a company spokesperson shared the comment quoted above. According to the spokesperson, 4K videos already encoded in H.264 will not be removed, and as shown in the figure, 2K videos will continue to be encoded in H.264.
Apple Safari has never supported VP8 or VP9, but a move by Google's YouTube pressures it to do so: Safari users can't see new 4K videos on YouTube.
By Jan Ozer
Posted on January 25, 2017
Apple Safari is the only current browser that doesn’t support Google’s VP9. In a move that may go a long way towards convincing Apple to do so, YouTube has stopped encoding 4K video in H.264 format, to focus on “delivering the best 4K experience exclusively through VP9.” This means that while YouTube visitors using Chrome, Firefox, Opera and Edge can watch 4K, those running Safari can't.
Since late December 2016, multiple magazines and blogs have reported that the 4K option has disappeared for new YouTube 4K videos played in Safari. You can see this in the figure below, which is from the Injustice 2 Story Trailer published by YouTube on January 21, 2017. On the left is the quality selector in Chrome, which shows a 4K option, on the right is Safari, which tops out at 1440p.
To verify that YouTube discontinued 4K H.264 encodes, we checked with YouTube, and a company spokesperson shared the comment quoted above. According to the spokesperson, 4K videos already encoded in H.264 will not be removed, and as shown in the figure, 2K videos will continue to be encoded in H.264.
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