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YouTube supports 8K resolution video, but your computer probably doesn’t

Super-high-resolution streaming videos are outpacing our personal computers.

 

Rae Votta

Tech

Posted on Jun 11, 2015   Updated on May 28, 2021, 2:53 pm CDT

Just when you were getting used to the clarity of 4K videos on YouTube, content is getting twice as sharp with 8K resolution clips appearing on the platform.

According to tech blog 9to5Google, YouTube began supporting 8K (4320p) resolution videos in 2010, but they’ve only just started to appear as commercial cameras start to support the high resolution. The first to catch mainstream attention is Ghost Towns, a short film released by  Neumannfilms.

However, as when 4K started popping up on YouTube in early 2014, the processing power needed to view such videos was a stretch for personal computers, and 8K is doubly difficult. The Ghost Towns trailer on most computers becomes a freeze frame of the buffering wheel of doom instead of a mind-blowing video experience—and heaven forbid you try to switch to full-screen. When computers catch up, however, the clarity should be remarkable. 

H/T Tubefilter | Screengrab via Neumannfilms/YouTube

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*First Published: Jun 11, 2015, 4:13 pm CDT