YouTube will no longer let its users watch free 4K quality videos on their platform anymore and require users to upgrade their account to YouTube Premium to do so.
It is not clear yet if this is something YouTube is testing or is a new feature that will be rolling out soon. Many users on Reddit and Twitter have noticed that if they want to change the quality of the video they are watching to 4K or above, they get hit with a “premium” label.
So, after testing up to 12 ads on YouTube for non-Premium users, now some users reported that they also have to get a Premium account just to watch videos in 4K. pic.twitter.com/jJodoAxeDp
— Alvin (@sondesix) October 1, 2022
YouTube Premium is priced at $12 per month or $120 per year.
In September of last year, YouTube claimed to have 50 million Premium and Music subscribers combined.
While it may seem like a large number of users, premium media providers like Netflix and Spotify Premium have much larger user bases. Theoretically, securing 4K films behind YouTube Premium might encourage subscriptions and increase Google’s revenue from the service.
