Previously, we covered the news that the video sharing giant is experimenting with forcing users to watch up to five unskippable ads before the start of a video. It seems the company is experimenting with something new and, once again, has pissed off the community.
Neowin reported that YouTube is experimenting with locking 4K resolution behind its Premium subscription. The company began supporting 4K video since July 2010, and after more than 12 years, they are considering not to let free users continue to watch 4K anymore.
Two redditors, u/Ihatesmokealarms and u/MCL_Malone, spotted the 4K resolution option was locked behind a paywall when they were trying to change the resolution. They were using the YouTube app, and at the time of writing, the web version still allowed free users to watch videos at 4K.
We checked our own YouTube app and we didn’t experience the same thing. It looks like this experiment is only available to a select group of (unlucky) users. YouTube has been trying very hard to convert free users to Premium, but what they are doing right now will just cause further anger among the community.
At the time of writing, YouTube has yet to make any official statement or announcement regarding this issue.
