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Playing 4K Vids from Youtube

R

Redsfan

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 26, 2012
185
13
Greater Toronto Area
Are we able to play youtube 4K videos on our MBP Retina's? Googled and found a few videos which had options above 1080p to play but they would stutter and not play back...not sure.

I am using a 2014 MBPR
 
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I've tried a couple of 4k videos on my 2015 MBP and didn't have any trouble. I'm on a 100 Mb/s connection though.
 
Nermal said:
I've tried a couple of 4k videos on my 2015 MBP and didn't have any trouble. I'm on a 100 Mb/s connection though.
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I'm not quite that fast so that could be an issue. I know youtube condenses so 4k isn't true 4k but wasn't sure if I had to mess around with certain settings, etc
 
I've been able to view 4k video via safari on my 2015 15in MBP dGPU. Try resetting safari and watching a different video. Also make sure its buffered a little, if your hitting the buffer it may be your connection or to many people are watching that video.
 
I remember Netflix requiring at least 20 Mbps to stream 4K video, assuming Youtube's quality is lower, you probably need at least a 10~12 Mbps internet speed to stream 4K.
 
Cuniac said:
I've been able to view 4k video via safari on my 2015 15in MBP dGPU. Try resetting safari and watching a different video. Also make sure its buffered a little, if your hitting the buffer it may be your connection or to many people are watching that video.
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I use chrome, not sure Safari is any better? I can get a bit of video but then choppy. I am also not wired or with overly strong wifi..
RoboWarriorSr said:
I remember Netflix requiring at least 20 Mbps to stream 4K video, assuming Youtube's quality is lower, you probably need at least a 10~12 Mbps internet speed to stream 4K.
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I have 20mbps but only getting around 15 or so at peak wireless so I should be able to stream for short periods
 
That struggles on my 2015 MBP too. I suspect that there's something "weird" with the encoding but haven't confirmed it.

Edit: Actually, it's smooth in QuickTime Player X. I normally use 7, which is the version that was stuttering. I thought that they both used the same codecs but it seems that I was mistaken.
 
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JTToft said:
4K YouTube should be no problem at all on any recent Mac. Even the new MacBook does it perfectly fine.
Streaming smoothness will depend on your connection speed, though.

But if you want some proper 4K, have a look at this:
http://4ksamples.com/4K-Chimei-inn-60mbps/
(My quad-core struggles to play that back smoothly.)
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will give that a shot when I head to the basement, closer to my router..thanks.
 
I have a 2013 rMBP and I can say that my experience with 4k videos from Youtube on Chrome is horrible, but when I tried to play the very same video in Safari, it was perfectly smooth. You will also need good internet connection (at least 20 Mbps, prefferably higher) to play 4k videos.
 
niklamacz said:
I have a 2013 rMBP and I can say that my experience with 4k videos from Youtube on Chrome is horrible, but when I tried to play the very same video in Safari, it was perfectly smooth. You will also need good internet connection (at least 20 Mbps, prefferably higher) to play 4k videos.
Click to expand...
We have 30mbps but since we are wireless only are lucky to get 17, and that is closer to the router. Still have to see what happens closer to it, and will try Safari..
 
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