Kurt Wilms, a Senior Product Manager at YouTube, announced earlier this Wednesday in an official blog post that the video platform can live stream video in 4K resolutions as of today. The feature is available for standard and 360-degree video formats.
YouTube’s 4K streaming support comes as the latest quality feature to grace the screens of avid platform viewers. Earlier in the month, the video giant also announced the addition of HDR support for content uploaded to the site.
The Game Awards 2016 will be one of the first events to test the high resolution streaming options in YouTube. The ceremony’s organization and Google’s video platform partnered up to live stream the show on December 1 at 9 p.m. EST.
4K streaming keeps pushing the limits of YouTube
It was a full six years ago when YouTube first added 4K support for videos hosted on its platform. Now, with the announcement of 4k streaming coming to the site, content creators continue to have an ever-expanding range of options to upload videos to the site.
Back in 2010, 4K resolutions were mostly unheard of as industry standards. Today, it is rare not to see renowned tech giants develop any output device which does not support 4k.
As such, it is only natural for YouTube to bring 4K streaming to the platform, especially after the addition of equally advanced imaging features such as 360-degree video and High Dynamic Range.
4K streaming will help both creators and YouTube itself to stay relevant
YouTube’s Kurt Wilms noted the fact that 4K streaming is not only an enticing feature for viewers but also for broadcasters. The new live format supports frame rates of up to 60 fps.
“For creators, this means the ability to take advantage of an incredibly clear picture for recorded and now streaming video. It’s the kind of thing that can help to push their hardware (and their talent) to create the most beautiful or just plain crazy-looking images and videos possible,” Wilms said.
Moreover, YouTube hopes the new streaming option in 4K keeps it in the race against industry leaders such as Amazon and Netflix. The three giants compete in the streaming realm as they seek to create more original content, but YouTube is notoriously behind in the race in contrast with the two companies.
Users who want to catch a glimpse of YouTube’s 4k streaming resolutions can tune in live at 9 p.m. EST or 6 p.m. PST to catch the 2016 edition of The Game Awards tomorrow, December 1.
Source: YouTube