A few weeks ago, the announcement of the roll-out of YouTube 4K playback exclusivity for premium users shook the internet. Following these, users across the world took to the YouTube social media account (Twitter) to kick against this plan. Despite the initial complaints from users, YouTube went on with its plans to roll out this to some regions for a testing phase.
What this feature simply did was restrict the viewing of 4K content to only YouTube Premium subscribers. Other users that aren’t making use of the subscription plan will be restricted from viewing content without access to 4K streaming. But for some reason, YouTube is backing down on its initial plans and giving all users access to 4K video streaming.
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In a response to a Twitter user requesting for removal of the restriction, Team YouTube made it clear that the testing is over and things are back to normal. Now all users both Premium and free can stream videos with YouTube 4K playback. Despite the removal of this feature, Premium users still get to view content with any Ads, while free users have to view Ads or pay for the subscription plan.
It is not still clear the aim of this “experiment” just like Team YouTube calls it, there are no details as to its achievement. Did this feature have a goal or mission, or was it called off after users across the world kicked against it after the announcement? We do not have answers to these questions, but all users of YouTube are now free to use 4K playback regardless.
