YouTube now supports both widescreen video and 720p High Definition content.
So, if recreational network use was a problem before, hold on to your kiesters.
We can speculate on a couple of reasons for this changeover. One is competition from video services offering higher quality downloads in widescreen formats, such as Blip.tv and Vimeo. Another possible reason is that YouTube may decide to increase offerings of professionally made content – content that is increasingly being recorded in high definition formats at 16:9 ratios.
It could also be that YouTube is catering to consumer demand – many new consumer cameras also record in HD and invariably do so in widescreen format. Interestingly enough, videos that were uploaded as widescreen during the 4:3 YouTube era are now shown in full 16:9 format, such as my friend Kaci’s 16:9 video. Which makes me feel kinda stupid now for uploading all my 16:9 videos as letterboxed 4:3 videos, but there you go. Maybe the next step should be a zoom button on YouTube videos.
Now, YouTube is used for education and for commercial promotion – as the two video examples show – so it’s probably not a good idea to block off YouTube altogether, but instead try to figure out the impact of YouTube video on the network.
One of the videos that was uploaded in HD, is “Where the hell is Matt? (2008).” We downloaded copies of WTHIM? in YouTube’s standard quality, high quality, and high definition formats. We also downloaded a copy of the originally uploaded file on Vimeo, which was made available in Quicktime format.
At 4 minutes, 29 seconds, (or 269 seconds) Dancing Matt’s video:
- is 144,152 KB in the original file, (or 536KB/s)
- is 11,295 KB at YouTube’s standard quality, (or 41KB/s)
- is 33,587 KB in YouTube’s high quality, (or 124KB/s)
- and is 75,320 KB in YouTube’s high-definition quality. (or 280 KB/s)
In short, a high-def YouTube video takes up about 6.5 times the bandwidth of a regular quality YouTube video.
Right now, the HD video format on YouTube is a curiosity – few have uploaded HD videos yet, but as the market for high definition video gear continues to lower in price (you can get an HD camera for as little as $130 these days) there is no doubt that eventually HD format videos will become standard on YouTube. If YouTube traffic is a problem today, it will become a bigger one; if it is not a problem today, careful monitoring is needed to make sure that it doesn’t become one in the future.
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