YouTube has long been the place to watch low-quality videos. While most other video sites allow you to see videos in high-quality, YouTube has stubbornly stuck with its abysmal 320×240. But there is actually a way to boost the quality.
All you need to do is to add “&fmt=6″ to the end of the URL.
Here is an example:
- Indiana Jones Trailer in normal YouTube Quality (320×240 – 320kb/s)
- Indiana Jones in higher quality (480×360 – 665kb/s)
While this is a neat trick – only a few of the videos also come in a high-res version. In my test only about 10% of the videos could be viewed in higher quality (I think they are testing it).
But, if the higher quality version setting doesn’t work, you can always get the iPod version by adding “&fmt=18″ to the URL. This will force YouTube to get the MP4 instead of the low-quality FLV version.
- Indiana Jones in iPod Quality (480×360 – 602 kb/s)
The difference is rather dramatic:
WTF???????