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Apple TV is now able to finally play YouTube videos in 4K resolution. There are some limitations, however. Users on Reddit are starting to report that they are seeing YouTube 4K support on their media hub. This only applies if you have tvOS 14 or higher installed. There are two problems, though. Only 30 FPS (Frames Per Second) 4K is supported, and you wont be getting any HDR (High Dynamic Range), either. So, you wont be able to make full use of that shiny new 4K TV just yet. You can enjoy 60 FPS 1440P video, though.
Limitations Confirmed
YouTube has confirmed these limitations via The Verge. The massive video streaming company also said modern iPhones and iPads will support 4K video with 60FPS and HDR. Support still looks to be be inconsistent at this stage.
Support for Apple TV isn’t universal just yet. YouTube is delivering the update remotely rather than tying it to an app release.
Even still, this makes the Apple TV more attractive to people that were wanting to purchase one but were undecided. It also shows that Apple is loosening restrictions on video formats a bit. On Apple’s platform, YouTube was previously limited to 1080p. This was because Apple had not adopted support for the VP9 codec. Google, YouTubes owner, prefers VP9 for high-resolution videos because it’s much more efficient.
This is pretty typical for an Apple device. Cupertino really does know how to innovate. It’s Apple who brought us the mouse, the GUI (Graphical User Interface), the full-screen multi-touch smartphone, and a whole lot more. The thing is, though, Apple limit’s themselves drastically by placing such high levels of constraint on their platform. It was somewhere around the 3GS that the iPhone got the ‘copy and paste’ feature. Another thing, Apple failed to include OLED display tech into it’s devices years after they were viable.
