YouTube Ends Limited Test That Locked 4K Video Behind Premium Paywall

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YouTube has brought to an end a limited test that locked 4K videos behind its Premium subscription, according to one of its official Twitter accounts (via 9to5Google).

General YouTube Feature 1
YouTube has supported 4K videos since 2010, and they have since been freely available to be viewed by anyone. At least, that was until earlier this month, when some users reported seeing a "Premium" label against 2160p/4K content, indicating only paying YouTube subscribers were able to view 4K content on the platform.

Currently, a standard YouTube Premium plan costs $11.99 in the United States and includes ad-free videos, background playback, and the ability to download videos for offline viewing. YouTube's experiment suggested it was actively considering 4K viewing as an added perk.


According to multiple tweets from the official TeamYouTube Twitter account, that experiment has now come to an end. YouTube representatives gave no reason for the change, but it's possible the negative online backlash to the test hastened its discontinuation.

Tag: YouTube

Top Rated Comments

-DMN- Avatar
-DMN-
41 months ago
For now…
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Abazigal Avatar
Abazigal
41 months ago
$12 a month for YouTube would be theft even if it were in Canadian Dollars. 99% of the content is free anyway. And didn't it start at like $5-6 a month ?
For me, well worth not having to deal with ads on the big screen. Just sucks that I can’t share it with my corporate google account, because ads are annoying, all the more when I am trying to play some video for my students.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
krspkbl Avatar
krspkbl
41 months ago
good and you better keep it that way Google. i have YT Premium but this would be a stupid move.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
HappyDude20 Avatar
HappyDude20
41 months ago
Remember everyone they only decided to stop this from becoming a premium service offering because they got caught and called out for it.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
SnappleRumors Avatar
SnappleRumors
41 months ago

$12 a month for YouTube would be theft even if it were in Canadian Dollars. 99% of the content is free anyway. And didn't it start at like $5-6 a month ?
$12 is worth it to me to skip the commercials.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
chocolaterabbit Avatar
chocolaterabbit
40 months ago

The removal of the ? feature makes it harder to screen out the garbage. Before, I would skip videos with higher ratios of ? to ? because it will either be rubbish content?, awful camera work?‍?, annoying music? or, worst of all, long winded rant from the YouTuber.? Now, even garbage videos can have high like ratings.?

I don't subscribe to any channels, but I have a list of go to channels for information I'm looking for. I mostly watch home repair, cooking and sewing channels to see if it's a task I can handle or hire a pro.
Get the YouTube dislikes extension for your browser if you’re on desktop
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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