Forget 1080p, YouTube has nearly quadrupled that resolution with support for video streams up to 4096p.
The announcement from YouTube comes less than a year after the site began supporting 1080p video. For reference, 4096p is 4096-by-3072 pixels. This resolution is ideal from about 25 feet away, YouTube says; even IMAX movies use two projectors with 2K resolution each.
To demonstrate 4096p, YouTube has created a playlist of five short films by professional filmmakers. To watch YouTube in 4096 resolution, just click on the resolution button in the bottom right corner of a video, then click "Original."
But unless you've got an ultra-high resolution monitor, you'll probably have a tough time seeing the difference. Projectors that show 4K video are usually the size of refrigerators, YouTube says. You'll also need a pretty fast Internet connection to watch the videos without long buffer times.
And for people who post videos to YouTube, there's one thing to keep in mind: You'll need a digital camera that supports 4K resolution, 0r a 35mm camera so you can convert the film into ultra high res.
With all that in mind, it makes me wonder what YouTube is shooting for. As one commenter on YouTube's blog points out, a 4096p video is not necessarily better than a well-compressed 1080p video. Another person noticed lots of compression artifacts in the ultra-high resolution version (I'm not enough of a videophile to see it, personally).
I think part of the reason YouTube is doing this is for bragging rights. For an online video service, it looks good on paper to say you're ahead of the curve with 4K resolution video. But maybe YouTube has some aspirations to appear in movie theaters. An IMAX show comprised entirely of awesome, home-grown YouTube videos? I might pay to see that.
