Telecom executives and regulators say they’re already on top of the increased traffic. “Companies want to be seen that they’re doing something,” he said. “Your biggest culprits of 4K video delivery are going to be Netflix, Amazon and Hulu.”īut, he added, it also lets Google send a signal at little cost. “I think that the impact is somewhat marginal,” he said, noting that YouTube’s lack of 4K content makes it less of a factor in the most bandwidth-heavy sort of video than paid services producing their own 4K fare. Michael Goodman, who researches television and media for Strategy Analytics, also voiced some skepticism. That Waterloo, Ontario, company’s stats last week had YouTube constituting 16% of total internet bandwidth, more than any other app.īut, Cullen added, not all YouTube involves high-def video on big displays: “A lot of it is viewed on small screens, we see a lot of it played at SD, so it is unclear how much this will help.” “It is highly likely that this will reduce the consumption numbers overall,” said Cam Cullen, vice president of global marketing at the network-analysis firm Sandvine. (YouTube cites 2.5 Mbps for 720p, a lesser form of high-def video, and 20 Mbps for 4K.) Viewers can still request HD or higher by clicking or tapping the menu button in a video and selecting “Quality.” Will YouTube’s move help clear the way for involuntary telecommuters?

Per YouTube’s posted requirements, dropping from 1080p to 480p should slash the needed bandwidth from 5 megabits per second to 1.1 megabits per second. Using Zoom? Here are 10 tips to get the most of itĮntertain yourself: 10 sites to watch movies for free For most clips, that means 1080p high definition (“1080” and “480” refer to the picture’s vertical resolution), although YouTube and other streaming services also offer some content in 4K “Ultra High Definition.” YouTube normally streams the highest-quality version of a video that it thinks your connection can support. A statement provided to USA TODAY called this expanded cutback Google’s way to “do our part to minimize stress on the system during this unprecedented situation.”

The move, first reported Tuesday by Bloomberg, follows an earlier YouTube pledge to constrain its resolution in Europe to relieve networks there as the coronavirus crisis forces an unprecedented shift to working from home.

For the next month, that Google service will present videos in “480p” standard definition, the same as on the discs that once constituted America’s primary way to watch movies at home. YouTube will downshift its default resolution to DVD grade.

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