YouTube cancels test Premium subscription for 4K videos, here’s why

YouTube started supporting 4K videos in 2010 and later added support for even higher resolutions like 8K in 2015. These high-res videos have been freely available to all users since their introduction. The Google-owned video streaming platform recently started experimenting with a new change that only allowed YouTube Premium members to watch 4K videos on YouTube. Now, the company has confirmed the end of the experiment by sharing a tweet from YouTube’s official Twitter handle.

Google has not shared any specific reason to discontinue the experiment that made 4K videos exclusive to Premium subscribers. However, it seems like notable amounts of negative feedback online might be the reason for the company to change its decision.
Team YouTube is also offering an instruction page that enables users to add direct feedback on the company’s proposal to implement the 4K resolution change on the platform. Users who think 4K videos on YouTube should remain freely available can leave their feedback.
What is YouTube Premium
YouTube Premium subscription removes ads from the platform and allows Android users to play videos in the background. YouTube also allows its Premium customers to download videos that they can watch offline. This subscription also includes Google’s music streaming service — YouTube Music.

With this new experiment, 4K videos on YouTube became unavailable for a small number of free users. Since the change started appearing, it has been reported by several Reddit users. During the period Google conducted this experiment, users found a new change in the video resolution settings menu on YouTube. The word “Premium” next to the option for 4K/2160p started appearing in the video resolution menu.