How to Watch High Quality Videos on YouTube

Hey, Chris. I would have never known how to view higher quality YouTube videos. Thanks a million. Also, I’ve seen a good bit of your videos there in high quality now. It’s pretty nice. Thanks again, keep em coming

Huh, well that is really interesting and worth a try. I do get tired of the low quality and how they “mess” once vids when uploading them.

This is actually pretty. Just tried it and it works. About the first flaw “limited” what exactly does that mean. Limited as if you can only use it for a few videos? Anyway if that is the case then bummers. The second flaw did not happen so that was good.

I left it at auto because my internet speed varies all the time.

Hey Chris! thank you very much for this tip. I had no idea. I go so crazy on youtube I dont realize all the new updates they have/ they already had.

I just heard about this yesterday and I have been putting it on all the youtube videos I watch. It is pretty awesome.

Nice blog Chris :P

It’s about YT stopped raping video quality and let the users decide what they want for quality. However, I don’t think there will be many high quality videos because the upload limit is still 100MB so it’s not going to matter until they change the upload limit.

I don’t get it… why are some vids high quality and others not…
I uploaded my vids in flv, wmv and avi. None of them are high quality.
Do you have to be featured or something?

People: if you type &fmt=18 at the end of a youtube video link you WILL get better quality!
NOTE: Only works if the original video was NOT encoded in .flv format
It is freakin awesome :D

*Peace*

Hey Chris,
Thanks for the tip, youtube has always been good to us, but we’d thought that they would actually put high quality videos on there like veoh, or metacafe. I think that i also seen a tip like this on cnet before. But anyways thanks!!!

Hey! This is a great breakthrough for me! I always go on youtube to watch you and other things when I’m bored. Now if theres actually something important to watch on their like a tv show or something it will be in the best quality!

This is great to know…

I have had several of my subscribers complain about the quality of my videos. I am going to inform them of this, I am glad to stumble across this. A third flaw I found is that the videos take allot longer to load! I am going to blame that on comcrap though! ;D

~Domreis

wow, That blows my mind! Definitely a step forward for youtube, because tons of people are wanting youtube vids on there tv and with this, it will help TONS!

Hey, Chris. I would have never known how to view higher quality YouTube videos. Thanks a million. Also, I’ve seen a good bit of your videos there in high quality now. It’s pretty nice. Thanks again, keep them coming

I just tried this and have got to say that I’m surprised. I always thought that Youtube scaled down the videos to a lower resolution when you upload them.

Thank You for posting this HowTo.

Sorry I have to repost. Only making this post to correct that last one. Sean is Seanzo. And the link off my name was not meant to be put down. Thank you

What do you know….It works!!!

Its awesome chris thanks for sharing this, but do you know if this will completely work with all other extensions? The videos I tried to test this on were not in sync with the sound, but they were only about a second behind so its not a big deal.

this is very nice i do need to find a was to watch youtube videos on a psp with high quality im working on 2 programs for it.

I read about this a few days ago. Pretty neat! Especially after stage6 got shut down, although it still can’t replace that.

I tried the URL you provided in the blog post, and i did not see a quality difference, or did that video not support high quality?

Well i am going to search around for others, I noticed a big difference from video recorded, that are still on ustream to videos on youtube, so i tend to watch the videos on ustream

Very cool. I always wanted YouTube to have higher quality videos. This is very cool, and I am going to be using it often. Thanks for the blog Chris.

Thanks Chris I have ben trying to play High quality youtube videos it works perfictly thank you!

Very good tip, indeed! But doesnt the quality is reduced when uploading? how can you have 2 qualities for the same video? I hope this feature soon to be on Metacafe xD~.

I’ve noticed that YouTube has recently been placing links on some video pages to enable the higher-quality videos. I’m glad they’ve decided to enable this feature on videos that support it and its much easier than just going hit or miss with the switch in a URL. Thanks for the tip though!

Wow! I didn’t even know how that it was possible to view certain videos in higher quality! Also, another downfall (at least for me) is that the videos take longer to load.

i think this is a really cool feature so, if you have an HD 1080p moniter then u can watch high quality films on youtube.

Thanks for the tip. I think I had heard about it alittle while ago, but I guess I never really tried it. It makes the videos so much clearer to watch. Since I have on YouTube for at least an hour a day this tooll really comes in handy. THanks once again.

I think it’s silly that YouTube restrict the file types that end up being available to stream to their own format. They should permit uploading of any decently compressed (DivX, QuickTime movies, XviD even…) and display it unconverted. Makes a lot more sense, and video quality is at least partially saved. Alternatively, let people softlink to H.264 or similar vids on their webspace to save precious YT bandwidth, if they’re that worried about it.

Cool find! I just set that setting on my account, unfortunatly my DSL connection suck and I’m only barrowing this ClearWire connection right now, once I have to give it back I’m gonna have to either wait longer to buffer or turn that option off. Thanks again!

Hey chris, this is really a great thing that YouTube is doing, but also, the restriction for flv formats is kinda stupid. I love anything thats bigger and better and this just helps alot.

There actually is an option to watch the video in high quality under the video, no need to access your account, not sure if you have to be logged in. It’ll say if you want to watch this video in high quality…of course it only shows up when the actual high quality video is available.

I recently stumbled over this before visiting chris.pirillo.com, but it is cool none-the-less.

It would be really cool if Youtube would add high quality video. Kind of like how stage6 does it, but i doubt it will happen that would be to much storage on googles part.

Hey Chri I thank you for doing tis beause i hae been hearing aout this but could not figure it ou. hearing the flas though I think Iwill tick will the crapy verson. OL Thank You and keep up the god work

To me i would record something using a hd camcorder and use final cut pro. To see that would be full quality because people now have hdtv’s and hd monitors. It is time that we need to move on to the new technology.

Hey Chris I thank you for doing tis beause i hae been hearing aout this but could not figure it ou. hearing the flas though I think Iwill tick will the crapy verson. OL Thank You and keep up the god work

Thanks for the info about the better resolutions and definition on youtube. Thanks chris, this has really helped the quality of watching videos on youtube

Chris very nice tip, but I found people uploading to .flv because its is MUCH higher quality. The down side to this, is that if your video is (1:53), the actual time on youtube is like (4:32) due to higher quality, anyways thanks for this tip.

Great Video! I Learned alot from that! I make videos, but my videos trn out bad, what format should I use? ~ nicholas (from chat)

yeah, I hate youtube vid. quality

I think this was very helpful for people who are waning to get into computers. I love the shows and i hope you can keep making great videos.

i think youtube needs hd video becasuse all the vids i seen are bad quailty so its hard to see whats being said

i think that youtube will evolve in to HD someday. but for now it looks like amature video. hope everyone takes care.

I really dont think they did it too well… it loads much too slowly.

that helped me so much

the flv file fomat really angers me most of the time. Its in compatibility with everything is really annoying… atleast i’ve learned a lot about converting file formats.

hey that was very helpfull because the videos on youtube are ussually blurred up. I Really love when the videosn are really clear. so thanks chris ytou always have the best topics that are are being talk in you live chat room well thank bye, ttw808 Mahalo

Well, I found out that since YouTube videos are converted to .FLV format, you can just upload a high quality video in .FLV format. Of course you will need a few tweaks.

i would alos love to put some videos i have made in hd because thats a reason i never put my vids on youtube

This really helped me, it also helped me understand that there are secrets. Anyways, Thank you for giving me this information! Thanks!

wow… I never knew you could change the quality that will help a ton since i watch alot of c++ programming videos. When you watch those videos you can not see the text at all so i used to pause it and just guess at what it said. Like i said before thanks a bunch for making videos that actually help with common problems.

Yeah, I saw this tip on C-net before, they have a bunch of youtube hacks on there.

While I believe this method does give you higher quality, it obviously make it load much slower. Possibly because I’m not even close to one of Google’s servers, it takes way too long to even load 1% of the video.

Hey Chris, this really helped me. I was always annoyed at the low quality videos, but after you told me this, i think of youtube a whole different way! THANKS ALOT CHRIS!

-KontrolFreak

This is very useful! It makes the picture look a ton crisper and Sometime’s the sound is a bit clearer? Anything is better than Youtube quality!

thanks for the tip! :) I am usually on youtube watching videos and now if the video is important i could be watching it in high quality, this is really going to help me out :) keep up the great work :)

hey thanks for the tip. i watch youtube alot and this just made my viewing experience much better. =)

Hey Chris, Nice post, I heard something about this awhile before and didn’t think it would ever happen but its here and the quality is better but I noticed that the audio isn’t that great on some videos after switching to higher quality but its youtube so I expect something to be wrong with it at first. Later Chris

Hey Chris,

Just kind of discovered you and am really picking up what you’re laying down. Love the live show and blog. Thanks for pointing out the higher quality video setting… I’ve always hated the lower quality videos. Question for you: do you ever surf youtube on a Wii? Not sure if you have one, but its an interesting experience. Now that I’ve updated the video setting, it should better the experience on the Wii as well. Thanks!

By default if you have a Youtube profile, it is set to optimize best for your connection. I just checked the box saying “I have a fast connection” and I didn’t notice a difference in quality. I’m glad I wasn’t watching Youtube clips for the past few months in low quality.

I found this really interesting, i wonder how long it will be before upgrade the quality all together.

Wow! I had no clue about this. Thanks Chris! All this time I have been like what the heck because all these videos had the high quality thing and mine don’t. Thanks!

wow, i just heard about this on smp films, but i did not know that you could always have this. Thanks!

Actually, I was wrong, that option only shows up after you show up &fmt=18…oops

Thanks for the tip chris i have been waiting so long to find out how to whatch HD youtube videos!

thank you i hate youtubes quality this will help alot

thank you for the help chris this will help me alot with youtubes quality probloms

your site is one of the most informative sites that i surf. came across this youtube info from google desktop blog (googlesystem.blogspot.com/2008/03/youtube-tests-higher-resolution-videos.html)

the video about the google docs spreadsheet voting poll is INCREDIBLE!! Great job on the video posts! Should do a video post on HOW TO MAKE A VIDEO POST

I had no idea there was a setting for high quality videos,after I heard you live I went straight there and changed the setting .The videos look much better now . I would have never known if not for you.
Thanks alot for the great tip.

I too found this hack for Youtube out, but not originally from chris.pirillo.com blog. Is it not funny how when one gets wind of something, everyone else on Youtube tries to make videos about it. I do notice a bit of difference when not using &fmt=18 and when I do. Also when pulling movies from Youtube using the hack the quality is a little better. Yes for the most part the quality of Youtube videos is awful. I would love to see HD all the time. After all the majority of us are in the broadband category for Internet connectivity.

However, on some videos that I have uploaded on my profile that are wmv files, the quality is basically the same.

I cant really notice a difference to be honest. I found a few that seemed like they worked but i wasnt to sure. Doesnt youtube have the option to view in higher quality anyway?

Thanks Chris for forwarding this tip to the community !
I’m actually amazed at the quality improvement in some videos.
But the thing is, YouTube has never been about quality for me,
and I wouldn’t want my viewing experience disturbed by out
of sync audio and video (which I hate). I think I’ll stick to poorer
video quality for convenience.

I found this out on yahoo and it works great, sound is way better and pictures are definately clearer. Hackx FTW.

I heard that YouTube was going to do that a while ago… and I think that is pretty cool… I tried a video that had a higher quality version (Not the one in the blog post) and I noticed a lot longer load time… and I’m on the lowest DSL connection possibly in my area… The video actually did stop and had I had to wait for it to load…

But I didn’t really care. It is nice to see that YouTube is doing this for the people who as picky about quality. But for the people who don’t have that much bandwidth to go around… Just stick with the regular version of the videos.

That’s so cool; I thought YouTube reduced the video resolution to save hard drive space. I’m going to email my friends about this feature. Thanks Chris.

Great tip Chris. I never knew about this until now and I always wanted to watch Youtube videos in high quality. Thanks alot.

Cya around.

–Keja

Thanks Chris. I have always said that youtube’s quality has sucked. having to watch videos that are pixelated. It was very annoying. This will be very helpful.

I’ve already noticed this a few days ago. Theres an option right on the bottom of t he video player saying “Click this for higher quality”. I can really see the difference in some videos.

oh wow, this is cool! i didn’t know youtube went to “higher quality but not HD” lol. Pretty cool though, thanks for the info. Keep up the good work!

+ Discussion: InformationWeek Weblog andChris Pirillo

Hey Chris thanks a ton for the tip. I really got to know about you few days ago and getting really addicted to see your videos and visiting this site to read different articles. Now regarding this youtube tip its really awesome since youtube video quality has been low and this is really appreciated and more fun to watch in high quality. Looking forward to use this tip. thanks again cheers :D

Neat-o!

Thanks for telling us Chris, and thanks Michael for taking the time to find the advantages and drawbacks and sharing it with the community. I’ve just tried it with a new video from one of my subscriptions, and it’s amazing, I can actually see the difference!

- Zorkman777

Hey Cris, as someone who wants to get into video editing as a career, I see YouTube getting better and better and even more useful throughout the years. All of this information is very useful and I thank you once more for your great tips and info! ;)

thats great that youtube is now doing more high quality stuff lets hope it stays

I use this tip all the time, I used to use Stage6 before it went back down. So I dreaded going back to the low quality of youtube but this has made it better, And for all the people who are wondering the best way to sumbit a video is to make it 320 x 240 resolution. For the format MPEG4 has been the best for me. I used to use .avi and that usually bumps the audio out of sync with the video. So if you have that problem just render the video using MPEG4.

wow, that is really nice to hear, i am sick of seeing low quality videos on youtube, it is cool that youtube is finaly making it worth the people who have High Speed while to watch youtube videos

Thanks very much Chris for the tip, but I really don’t find a difference, and since my modem is downstairs, and my room is upstairs I have to use wireless, and it isn’t very fast, so I don’t like to use this.But, since I have a desktop downstairs it works really good down there. So if you have a good connection I would use this tip, if you don’t like me I wouldn’t.

Yay thanks Chris i never knew you could set this to automatic. This saves me so much time and it look so much better. Thanks

I just found out about that extension to the link &fmt=18 last night and I have to say that it makes a lot of the videos a lot higher and nicer quality. It makes text easier to read and makes it more clear it is quite nice. The part that I like the most about it though is the sound quality it increases so that if you have a song in low quality it plays in mono format and with the higher quality as long as the original file was stereo and not an .flv it will play the music in Stereo which is quite nice. I did not know that there was a setting in Account Preferences so thanks for that tip Chris.

btw wanted to add what fraikonz said is not entirely true not all videos that have HQ format say play this video in high quality, at least not yet. I have found many videos that have a higher quality format that do not have that link. This is probably still a beta feature so Im sure the bugs will be removed soon its just many videos that are in high quality do not have the link for it but some recently up loaded ones do.

hey whats up chris i love the show and Think your mmorpg video is awsome just saying your a cool interesting person thanks for streaming.

Thanks alot Chris! I’ve never seen this before. I’ve always had issues with YouTube and it’s quality..So I’ve also always wanted more sites like Stage6, with higher quality streaming video.

Either way, one day everything streaming on the internet will be HD!

Cheers!

Mike-godfathr871

Hey Chris, I would like to thank you for this helpful tip. I would also like to point out how helpful this was considering you pointed out the flaws and also the catches to doing this. I would like to point out again that this slows down my computer a little, and if you could, could you point out the issue? I am running an emachine, but yeah… Anyway, thanks again!

Thats really cool. watching high quallity videos on youtube would make it o much better. I love youtube and i coulnt ask for more from it but they keep on giving. Just like you Chris

I’ve heard of this one a couple of days ago. I think it’s really awesome! Finally YouTube gets with the time ;)

Can’t wait to upload some high quality music vids to my YouTube :)

I’ve noticed, that if the original video is in 16:9 aspect ratio, the &fmt=18 feature will stretch the video to 4:3, which makes it pretty much unusable on wide screen videos.

Thanks Chris! Very helpful! And I like your show too!

Hey, that actually works. It was hard for me to tell the difference at first. What I did was bring up a tutorial video which are normally quite low quality on youtube and it’s usually very hard to see the menus. So I took a snapshot of the top left corner of the menu bar where “file, edit, image, layer”, etc. are and then took a snapshot of it in the higher quality and brought them up in Preview and there’s definitely a sizable difference in quality. Now i’m going to go switch my settings in youtube to see if I can’t run into the same audio/video issue that he ran into.

Wow! That is very helpful. I can’t stand the quality especially when I am watching a very lengthy video on my computer screen. Maybe a 2 minute video I could stand. Not a 10 minute video! Thanks

I’ve seen that feature first when I tried to watch a video called: “GIF POOP - Link: The Real Faces of Evil” created by TheSwedishDork. Especially I wanted to check it by opening two quality versions on my web browser and opening fullscreen on it. So I looked carrefully to compare better quality with worse and… THAT’S IT, it’s now smoothler and sharper that even YouTube was making before. And that’s the way to invite more people to watch videos on Internet (but amount of illegal files will raise on it too [OH, WHO CARES? THEY CAN DELETE POPULAR COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL THAT WERE UPLOADED EVEN 2 YEARS AGO!!!]).

This is very neat. I tried it out… and on some new/popular videos are already in high quality, there is a link that says if you want to view it in lower quality.

:D

finally!! thanks Chris, because I hate the cruddy resolutions that youtube restricts videos too

thank god the youtube quality is horrible

Hey thats cool.. higher video quality vids on youtube. Don’t know if I’ll ever use it simply because one of my pet peeves is video/audio desync. But I’ll give it a go and see how it turns out. Hopefully for the better. I mean.. it never hurts to try something right? :)

Wow the same thing (audio and video desyncing) happens when I watch any HD h264 videos on Ubuntu… What the hell…

Here is the million dollar question.. With our Internet providers alreadly doing packet shaping and inventing new ways to cut out speeds for high downloaders, Do we really have the bandwith to watch all HD content in the Internet ? .. Still a good tip thanks chris. ..

Hey Chris!

This does sound like a good idea, i’ve only seen it in a few videos, but I haven’t actually seen an improvement yet. Hopefully youtube will allow larger filesizes to help with this, because the idea is sounds really good.

It’s about time we got the chance to watch YouTube in a higher quality. Alot of their competition, sites like Revver and MetaCafe, started out with high quality un-pixelated (primarily) video. The change is nice and your videos are definately clearer. Some people aren’t helped though. You know the old saying, “You can’t polish a ****” shines true here. If your video capture device is pixelated to begin with, uploading it to YouTube doesn’t seem to help it.

Thanks a bunch Chris.

Thanks Chris for the great you tube tip, I always wanted to watch higher quality videos on you tube, with this tip now I can. I tried the higher quality you tube video tip, and it works great.