# Why can a 1080p video on Youtube look like 360p?



## atsizat (Sep 14, 2015)

Are they uploading a 360video on Youtube as 1080p? 

It says 1080p but looks 360p on Youtube (1080p is chosen).


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

Hi-res copy of a lo-res master, probably


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## progmatist (Apr 3, 2021)

Your browser could be downsampling the video to fit the standard smaller window. Switching to full screen mode may clear up the problem.


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## atsizat (Sep 14, 2015)

progmatist said:


> Your browser could be downsampling the video to fit the standard smaller window. Switching to full screen mode may clear up the problem.


It has nothing to do with that cause I can also see good 1080p videos on youtube.

Maybe low resolution videos are uploaded as 1080p on Youtube. The option on Youtube says 1080p but it looks like low resolution video.

Some old movies, for instance, is uploaded as 1080p on Youtube but they look like 360p.


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## RobertJTh (Sep 19, 2021)

People think resolution is everything, but bandwidth is much more important for video quality. A full HD video with low bandwidth will look like crap.


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## progmatist (Apr 3, 2021)

atsizat said:


> It has nothing to do with that cause I can also see good 1080p videos on youtube.
> 
> Maybe low resolution videos are uploaded as 1080p on Youtube. The option on Youtube says 1080p but it looks like low resolution video.
> 
> Some old movies, for instance, is uploaded as 1080p on Youtube but they look like 360p.


1080P HD videos can be encoded at too low a bit rate for any reasonable quality. The quality of a video depends entirely on who created it. Which on Youtube can be absolutely anybody.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

Have you ever editted videos using programs such as Vegas or Adobe? If you use a source material of resolution quality at 360p, and render it at 1080p, the output will be a 1080p video, but the "actual resolution quality" will remain at 360p. (But it will have the file size of a 1080p video)
It's analoguous to cooking a premium menu using low quality foods at a restaurant. Even though on the surface, it has its "brand" and the price tag for it, if it's cooked using low quality material, the low quality will still be there in the final product.
Likewise, if you render a 128kbps mp3 music file into a 320kbps mp3 file or a FLAC file, the output file size will be as large as the latter, but the quality will still remain as the former.


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## AndorFoldes (Aug 25, 2012)

hammeredklavier said:


> It's analoguous to cooking a premium menu using low quality foods at a restaurant.


Or making a 24 bit/96 kHz remastering of a 16 bit/44 kHz recording. Or an SACD remastering of a mono recording.


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

Post links to videos to illustrate what you mean.

Post a couple that you think look wonky, and perhaps one or two that you think look just fine.


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