Federico Pistono

YouTube has quietly started testing out real HD quality videos on a
smattering of its content, a development that is getting attention from
viewers in message boards and blog forums
this week. The new format could be a big move for YouTube, as the video size is over 80MB, which means that they are probably the same H.264 encoded mp4 files available in the iTunes store.

Getting premium quality video available on the site is integral for
YouTube's success as the company struggles to turn a profit from its
vast array of content available online.

The new formats have been available on a few videos for a
few months now, and a small hack can upgrade any video taped at a high
enough quality. YouTube confirms this is part of their efforts to test
out different video formats.

The new format seems like
real HD 720p video and looks clean and professional in the widescreen format.

YouTube already provides an option to view higher quality versions for some videos and you can also append "&fmt=18" to the URLs for the other videos. If you add "&fmt=22", some YouTube videos are now available at an even higher quality, which makes the full screen view a very useful option. Compare:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY (standard format - mono, resolution: 320x180)
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY&fmt=18 (stereo, resolution: 480x270)
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY&fmt=22 (720p - stereo, resolution: 1280x720)

To embed a higher quality version of a video, replace "http://www.youtube.com/v/VIDEO_ID" with "http://www.youtube.com/v/VIDEO_ID&ap=%2526fmt%3D18" or "http://www.youtube.com/v/VIDEO_ID&ap=%2526fmt%3D22" in YouTube's embeddable code.

Japanese website Google Mania claims that there is also an option to download video as an MP4, which would
be big news as YouTube users have long desired that option, but
the download link does not seem to appear on any of the U.S. versions.

While these videos will result in slower loading and require
powerful PCs for smooth playback, HD quality videos are a step in the
right direction for YouTube. Now if they can
just work on getting a larger inventory of high quality content people
want to watch on there, their ad model will be in business.

If you'd like to see the difference for yourself, here is an HD embed at 720p. Enjoy.

Via Wired }