YouTube in 4K remains for everyone, not just for Premium users

YouTube will continue to keep 4K streaming free for non-Premium users after an experiment to limit it for paid subscribers.

YouTube keeps 4K streaming free for everyone.  (Pixabay)

YouTube will continue to keep 4K streaming free for all users! Sounds weird, doesn't it? The company was testing 4K streaming exclusively for Premium users as an experiment and that seems to have backfired. The company's social media handle has now announced that it plans to keep 4K streaming on YouTube free for everyone, even if you don't pay for its ad-free plan.

In a response to a taunt from a user, YouTube replies, “we've fully turned off this experiment. viewers should now be able to access 4K quality resolutions without Premium membership. we're here if you have other q's.” During the experiment, some users were seeing the “Premium” tag next to the 2160p and 4K resolution options. However, this now goes away and YouTube in 4K remains free for everyone.

YouTube in 4K remains free

Sources close to the matter, however, say that YouTube is gathering feedback on the experiment. Hence, there could be a possibility that the company may go ahead with this plan. After all, YouTube wants to explore more ways to make people subscribe to its paid premium service. The Premium subscription removes advertisements from videos as well as the interface.

YouTube Premium also allows mobile users to watch videos in the pop-up window. Additionally, users can keep playing videos in the background with a Premium subscription.

YouTube also has a similarly structured music streaming service, called YouTube Music. Similar to Spotify, anyone can stream music from the platform for free, but bear the advertisements. Additionally, YouTube Music in the free mode prevents you from locking your phone's display, or using any other app.

Most of YouTube's rivals divide their tier of services with the picture resolution. For example, Netflix limits its entry-level plans to 720p resolution, while the 1080p resolution is limited to mid-tier plans. Netflix offers 4K resolution in its top-tier plan.