It is quite annoying when YouTube videos play in low quality. This way you ensure that they always start razor-sharp in 4K or HD!
Tip: this way you can always watch videos on YouTube in 4K and HD
Of course, you also want to be able to enjoy razor-sharp images on YouTube. Fortunately, you can set YouTube to play videos in 4K or at least HD by default. We show you how to do that on your iPhone.
By default, YouTube chooses a quality that suits your internet connection. Sometimes this is useful, but often you end up with videos starting in low resolution too often (and sometimes getting stuck at that quality). There are two ways you can set the video quality: per video or for all videos.
To set the quality for a specific video, open the video on YouTube. Then tap the settings cog at the top right. Then tap ‘Quality’ and ‘Advanced’. Then choose the desired resolution. Depending on the video, 4K is also available there.
Do you want to play all videos on YouTube in the highest quality (4K)? Then you have to set that in the app. You do not need to be logged in to the app for this. Please note that not all videos on YouTube are also available in 4K.
- Tap your profile (or ‘You’ if you’re not logged in) at the bottom right;
- Tap the gear icon at the top right;
- Scroll down and choose ‘Video Quality Preferences’. If you are logged in with an account, tap ‘Quality’;
- Choose ‘On mobile networks’ or ‘On WiFi’, both choices open the same page. If you are logged in with a YouTube account you can skip this step;
- Select ‘Higher image quality’ for the desired option.
With these small adjustments, YouTube will immediately look a lot better. You can see a big difference, especially with 4K videos. Details in the videos are a lot sharper.
If you notice that videos occasionally drop to a lower resolution, this is usually due to your internet connection. YouTube in 4K requires (slightly) more data and stability. Even if your internet is good, YouTube can sometimes still choose a lower setting to prevent buffering.
Restarting the video can often help. It can also sometimes make a difference to use WiFi instead of mobile data.
YouTube in 4K and data limits
NB! There is a small disadvantage to this. If you set YouTube to the higher quality by default, it will also require more data from your mobile data connection. If you are connected to WiFi it doesn’t matter, but if you have an internet subscription with a data limit you have to be careful. You can get an unlimited subscription (SIM only) for less than twenty euros.
However, nowadays more and more mobile subscriptions no longer have a data limit. Do you have such a subscription? Why wouldn’t you always set the quality of YouTube to 4K (or HD)?
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