YouTube considering locking 4K videos behind its Premium subscription (Update)

youtube screen download youtube videos

  • YouTube was testing out requiring a Premium subscription for 4K and higher resolutions.
  • People in Google’s experimental group who were non-subscribers were seeing Premium appear next to the 2160p option.
  • This would have added a new perk for YouTube Premium while taking away something that’s currently free for all users.

Update: October 17, 2022 (03:00 PM ET)YouTube has revealed in a statement from its TeamYouTube Twitter account that the company has stopped its experiment. It also confirmed that all users should have access to the 4K resolution again. You can read more here.


Google has been trying hard to get YouTube viewers to subscribe to its Premium subscription. While this has mostly come in the form of pushing more ads — both skippable and unskippable — the company seems to be testing out a new strategy. This new strategy could see 4K and higher resolutions locked behind its paywall.

LATEST ARTICLE

See Our Latest

Blog Posts

admin May 13th, 2026

Enterprises are relying on AI agents more than ever to drive productivity. But what happens when that very speed and […]

admin May 13th, 2026

A physician finishes her assessment on a Tuesday morning. The imaging confirms early-stage cancer. It is aggressive, but treatable. She […]

admin May 13th, 2026

The demand to infuse every decision with context-rich, trustworthy AI is rapidly transforming the enterprise technology landscape. For organizations running […]