Inspiring

Question

Recently uploaded 4K videos are limited to 1080p on tv/chromecast (but are 4K on pc/phone)

Forum|Forum|4 months ago
October 12, 2025
6 replies
2344 views

I've been using Premiere Pro to create 4K 60fps videos for a few years now. So far I've uploaded more than a hundred of them to YouTube (most unlisted, but several published). And I've never had a problem viewing these videos in 4K on my TVs... until now.

Within the past few days, I've noticed that when I upload a 4k 60fps video to my YouTube channel (and then wait for 4K processing to complete), I can watch that video in 4K on my PC and phone, but on my TV the resolution is limited to 1080p. Chromecast , Google TV Streamer, and my TV's native YouTube app all limit the video to 1080p, but all my non-TV related devices can show it in 4K.

For example, a couple days ago I uploaded a 2 hour long 4K 60fps video. I waited several hours for 4K processing to complete, and then tried viewing the (unlisted) video on various devices:

Computer: I tested multiple browsers (Chrome and Firefox) on multiple computers and they all let me view the video in 4K. GOOD

Phone: My Samsung phone (S24FE) lets me view the video in 4K. GOOD

Quest 3 (VR): The Quest's YouTube app lets me view the video in 4K. GOOD

TV: I tried Chromecast on a 1080p TV, Google TV Streamer on a 4K TV, and the native YouTube app on the 4K TV and they all limit the video to the 1080p stream, which looks awful. They don't let me select anything above 1080p. BAD

Meanwhile, my older 4K 60fps videos all play beautifully in 4K on the TVs (whether via Chromecast, Streamer, or native app). The 1080p TV downsamples, of course, but it's clearly drawing from the superior 4K stream rather than the ugly, artifact-laden 1080p stream. It's only the recently uploaded videos which are being limited to the 1080p stream, and only on TV.

So, why can't my TV (and Chromecast and Google TV Streamer) detect and access the 4K stream, while my PC, phone, and Quest 3 can? It's exactly the same video.

I also tested both long (2 hour) and short (2 minute) videos and get the same behaviour. So it's not a matter of video size. And plus, I've uploaded dozens of 2+hour videos in the past, and never had this problem.

My most recent video is ready to go. It's unlisted, but not yet published. I don't want to publish it until I know it will be viewable in 4K on TVs. However, so far I haven't been able to view it in 4K on either of my TVs. So I'm at a stand-still.

I actually re-uploaded the video today, and got the same results. The second copy plays in 4K on my computer and phone, but is capped at 1080p on the TV/Chromecast/Google streamer.

This is very strange, and very frustrating!

I am currently re-rendering the video using Premiere Pro instead of Media Encoder, to see if that makes a difference. (Should it?) It'll take me a day or so to find out!

In the meanwhile, any ideas what's going wrong, and how I can fix it?

Thanks!

Export

pavel_7144

Participant

The same issue for all videos uploaded since October - 1440p max. Rendered in DavinciResolve FYI

Captain.Cornbread

Participant

I can't even get YT to process my 4K video past 1080p. Exact same settings I used a couple months ago with no problem.

Playful_adventures8992

Participant

I’ve encountered the same issue with Final Cut. The video appears in 4K 60fps everywhere except on my TVs. I used the exact same settings as before. To be fair, the source video was only 2K 60fps and was exported in 4K — could YouTube be recognizing that? The videos were recorded with a GoPro.

Tripecac2Author

Inspiring

Did you try the trick of removing the last frame of the video using the YouTube editor?

Tripecac2Author

Inspiring

Hi, from my earlier tests, I can see that shorter (recent) videos tend to get higher max frame rates on TV, but still are not consistently 4K like they were a month ago:

4) outro 1 (8 min CBR 100, 7 days ago) = 1440p on Chromecast, 1080p on Streamer and Native

5) intro 2 (2 min CBR 100, 4 days ago) = 4K on Chromecast, 1440p on Streamer and Native

6) outro 2 (2 min CBR 100, 4 days ago) = 1440p on all

7) intro 3 (2 min CBR 100, 4 days ago) = 4K on Chromecast, 1440p on Streamer and Native

😎 outro 3 (2 min CBR 100, 4 days ago) = 1440p on all

Longer videos seem consistently worse:

2) rough 2 (2 hr CBR 100, 9 days ago) = 1080p on all 3 devices (no 1440p or 4K option for any)

3) rough 3 (2 hr CBR 100, 7 days ago) = 1080p on all

9) final 1 (2 hr TMPGEnc CBR 200, 3 days ago) = 1080p on all, but it looks worse than that

10) final 2 (2 hr TMPGEnc CBR 200, 1 day ago) = 1080p on all

So, it seems like the larger the file, the worse the max resolution on TVs. But again, this only applies to videos uploaded within the past couple weeks. Older 4K 60fps videos still play in 4K on TV regardless of size.

My channel is all about long videos (usually around 2 hours long). So ProRes, with its huge file size, is not a viable option for me.

It would be interesting to see if ProRes produces different results from the formats I've already tested (H.264 CBR 100, H.264 CBR 200, and TMPGEnc H.264 CBR 200). There's also H.265, which isn't as bad as ProRes. Currently I'm waiting to hear back from a couple other content creators who've had their own videos suffer the same problem. I'm pretty sure one of them also uses Premiere Pro; I'm trying to find out if there's a pattern in software and rendering settings.

Oh, and one more thing. I installed SmartTube (an alternative to YouTube) on my Chromecast and Google TV Streamer. I've used in the past when my TV's YouTube app was struggling with 4K 60fps content; for some reason SmartTube is better at streaming high bitrate content.

Anyway, I found that SmartTube can play all my recent uploads at 4K. It can also play that Prowalk Tours video at 4K.

So the Chromecast, Streamer, and TV can all definitely handle whatever changes YouTube may have made to their encoding for recent uploads. It's only the YouTube app itself which can't handle the higher resolutions.

Funny how a tiny independent app like SmartTube is once again outperforming YouTube when processing YouTube's own content. Come on, Google, wake up!

Tripecac2Author

Inspiring

I checked some other recently published 4K 60fps videos on YouTube and see that most of them are playable in 4K on my TV. Prowalk Tour's video still isn't, and mine still aren't. So the app hasn't been fixed yet.

I then did some short tests. I exported a 30 second clip from my video 5 times, each with a different rendering setting. I then uploaded them and waited for processing to complete before testing them on the TV. The results were interesting.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TEST 1: TMPGEnc plugin - H.264 CBR 200 Mbps [my default preset for final videos]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H12FloLh3H0

Google TV Streamer: 4K
Samsung Native app: 4K
Original file size: 732 MB

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TEST 2: Premiere Pro's H.264 CBR 100 Mbps [my default preset for drafts]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTShETrz9pg

Google TV Streamer: 4K
Samsung Native app: 4K
Original file size: 390 MB

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TEST 3: Premiere Pro's H.264 CBR 300 Mbps
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4PFhRh4P1Y

Google TV Streamer: 1080p
Samsung Native app: 1080p
Original file size: 1,162 MB

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TEST 4: Premiere Pro's H.265 CBR 40 Mbps
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qvWAsZrh7Y

Google TV Streamer: 4K
Samsung Native app: 4K
Original file size: 156 MB

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TEST 5: ProRes 422 LT
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifarmbwBT4c

Google TV Streamer: 1440p
Samsung Native app: 1440p
Original file size: 2,862 MB

================================================================================

The results were surprising (to me at least).

The three smallest videos (tests 1, 2, 4) all play in 4K in the TV YouTube apps. These are the first uploads in weeks (for me) that are viewable in 4K.

The two bigger videos (tests 3, 5) are limited to lower resolutions, but ProRes (which is the biggest) has a higher resolution than H.264 CBR 300. SmartTube plays them all in 4K,

So the results suggest that larger files (higher bit rate) are less likely to play in 4K in the current YouTube app. The strange thing is, *none* of my longer videos in the past 11 days are displaying in 4K in the app, even the 100 Mbps ones. So lowering the bit rate from my default of 200 to 100 Mbps isn't going to help the full length videos.

To be thorough, I will re-upload these five tests, along with another copy of my recent full-length video, to see if anything changes. It'll be a few hours before I have the results from that but in the meantime I'm curious what your thoughts are about this five short tests.

Tripecac2Author

Inspiring

I checked last night's re-uploads and got these results on the Google TV Streamer:

Test 1 (TMPGEnc CBR 200) : 4K

Test 2 (CBR 100) : 4K

Test 3 (CBR 300) : 1440p

Test 4 (H.265) : 4K
Test 5 (ProRes) : 4K

Full 2 hour video: 1080p

So, all but the CBR 300 Mbps and the full 2 hour video managed to display in 4K on the TV. Tests 3 and 5 give different results from yesterday. Same files, different results. Hmm...

I also looked at several walking channels which have published 4K 60 fps walks in the past couple days. Of the 9 channels I checked out this morning, 3 are limited to 1440p on the TV. The rest go up to 4K. I'm going to try to find out what the "bad 3" have in common.

Stan Jones

Community Expert

@Tripecac2,

I've lurked along here and done a few tests. I see posts online, unrelated to PR, with variations on this over the last few years. UHD on everything but TV and TV apps for some, but not other identical, uploads. I did not see one "correct" answer. It's hard to sort the posts about other, common, issues.

I thought Stats for nerds would make sense, but it does not: datarate fine, codec the same. I like that you are using media info and Stats for nerds.

I did not pay attention; is there a way to download the YT files for various qualities?

Stan

Averdahl

Community Expert

This is clearly a problem with the TV/Chromecast/Google streamer and not Premiere Pro since you upload 4K to YouTube and can watch 4K on some devices.

I found this on YouTube Help regarding video quality that may be worth checking up: "Some high-quality formats (for example, 1080p, 4K) may not be available for all devices, as they may not support the latest video compression technology (VP9)." VP9 has been around for some years now so that may not be the issue here though...

Change the quality of your video - Computer - YouTube Help

YouTube Help - How can we help you?

I've never had a problem viewing these videos in 4K on my TVs... until now.

By @Tripecac2

Tripecac2Author

Inspiring

Originally, I thought there was a bug with the TV as well, but that's when I started investigating and discovered these 2 things:

1) The problem affects 3 different devices: Chromecast (on a 1080p TV), Google TV Streamer (on a 4K TV), and the 4K TV's native YouTube app. If it were just one of those devices, I'd assume that device's YouTube app was buggy... but it's 3 separate devices: two Google and one Samsung.

2) My older videos are still displaying in 4K. So, the first draft of this video, uploaded 4 weeks ago, is displaying in 4K on all 3 devices. Any videos uploaded after that are maxing out at either 1080p or 1440p on at least 2 of the 3 devices, even though they're from the same project as the one 4 weeks ago.

Why would recently uploaded videos fail to display in 4K on 3 different TV apps, while older videos are play in 4K in those apps, and meanwhile *all* the videos play in 4K on PC, Phone, and Quest?

YouTube is allowing the PC, Phone, and Quest apps to access the 4K streams, but it's preventing the TV-related apps from doing so... but it's only on my recently uploaded videos. Why would it do that?

To me, it suggests that there is something different about my recently uploaded videos, specifically between the first draft (4 weeks ago, displays in 4K) and the second draft (9 days ago, ). What could it be? Here are some possibilities:

a) The format of my project may have changed. I made several edits between the first and second rough drafts, but they were just basic edits like adding titles, fades, changes in music, volume automation, etc. I didn't add any other video sources, and rendered the project using the same CBR 100 preset which I use for all my drafts. So it seems unlikely that there were any formatting changes between rough 1 and rough 2.

b) The rendering software could have changed. Premiere Pro could have had an update between those first 2 rough drafts. That could have had an effect on the rendered output. However, when I look at the project files I see this:

First draft (4K on TV):

<MZ.BuildVersion.Created>25.4.1x3 - 1 Sept 2025 4:07:54 am</MZ.BuildVersion.Created>
<MZ.BuildVersion.Modified>25.4.1x3 - 1 Sept 2025 5:14:15 am</MZ.BuildVersion.Modified>

Recent video (1080p on TV):

<MZ.BuildVersion.Created>25.4.1x3 - 1 Sept 2025 4:07:54 am</MZ.BuildVersion.Created>
<MZ.BuildVersion.Modified>25.4.1x3 - 10 Oct 2025 5:08:52 am</MZ.BuildVersion.Modified>

This suggests that both the oldest and newest drafts of the project were edited using PP 25.4.1x3. So it seems unlikely that a software change caused a change in the output format.

When I run Mediainfo on the first draft (4K on TV) and second draft (1080p on TV), I don't see any differences (other than duration and file size, which is to be expected). So if there *are* differences in the rendered format, then it's not something easily detected.

c) The uploading process could have changed. However, I did the same thing I always do, which is go to Channel Content, Create, Upload Video, and then drag-and-drop the video. I selected the same options as always (added to test playlist, unlisted). It seems unlikely that the uploading process changed.

d) YouTube's 4K processing algorithm could have changed. Maybe their processing algorithm generates a different format of 4K stream now, one which is incompatible with TVs (for my videos at least). I have no idea what goes on behind the scenes at YouTube. "Stats for nerds" shows the exact same vp09 Codec for the first and second drafts. I don't know what else it's possible to see in terms of YouTube's compressed stream data. However, if YouTube changed their processing algorithm in such a way that it breaks TV's ability to view new streams in 4K, other uploaders would have been affected, and I'm sure we would have heard about it by now. The fact that I haven't heard anyone else mentioning this same problem indicates that it's unlikely that YouTube's processing changed enough to break 4K streams for TVs.

However, my channel is very small, so there's always a chance that YouTube is using small channels like mine as guinea pigs for testing changes.

e) YouTube might generate two 4K streams: one for TV and one for everything else. If they actually do this, then maybe the 4K-for-TV stream of my recent uploads is either corrupt (due to changes in a-b) or hasn't been generated yet (despite YouTube saying that 4K processing is complete). However, this seems unlikely because other people would have complained about lack of 4K TV support by now too, and also videos 5 and 6 (intro 2 and intro 3) both display in 4K on Chromecast (but only 1440p on Streamer and Native 4K TV).

f) YouTube might have recently started preventing unlisted 4K content from displaying on TVs, at least for small channels like mine. Why would they do this? Well, maybe they are trying to cut bandwidth-related costs, and since unlisted content doesn't generate any revenue (for YouTube), maybe they have a new policy that new unlisted (free) content isn't allowed to stream at 4K on TVs anymore. For some reason, this policy doesn't extend to browsers, phones, and Quest 3. Maybe it's just a matter of time before it does. Maybe, maybe, maybe... It's all just guessing at this point.

g) There could be a bug in the TV-related apps which prevents *some* new content from displaying in 4K. This seems unlikely. I can view other channels' new content in 4K. And my old content is still in 4K. And why would Chromecast, Google TV Streamer, and my Samsung TV's native YouTube app all be affected similarly, while PC, Phone, and Quest 3 are all still okay?

So I really don't know what's going on.

I'm got a couple more things to try, but they'll take a while.

1) Re-upload older videos and see if they can be viewed in 4K on TV. I'm currently re-uploading the first draft (from 4 weeks ago), as well as my previously published video (also viewable in 4K). I'm using the same mp4s as I did weeks ago, so if these re-uploads don't play in 4K on the TV, then I'll know it's not a problem with Premiere Pro, which would eliminate #a and #b as causes.

2) Publish an unlisted video and see if it can be viewed in 4K on TV. If YouTube is "throttling" new unlisted content on TVs, then publishing a video should make 4K available on TV, right? It's a simple thing to test, but makes me nervous, because if it doesn't work, I have to unpublish the video and I don't know if YouTube penalizes that. I suppose I could use a different channel for that test, so my main channel is not penalized.

3) Re-render my video with Premiere Pro 25.5 (which I just installed today). Maybe there was a bug in 25.4 which made 4K output "unstable", throwing off recent changes in the YouTube 4K processor. I have no idea whether 25.5 adds any rendering-related changes, but I guess it's worth a shot.

Can you think of anything else I can test?

Also, has anyone tried to view the video I listed on a TV? I'm curious whether your TV lets you view up to 4K or not. Here it is again:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZRgqFiuDVc

I'll attach the mediainfo for it so you can see the mp4 format and file size.

Thanks for your help!

Averdahl

Community Expert

No, Premiere Pro does not output 4K files that will be "unstable" for only some YT players/devices, after YT has transcoded the file created by Premiere Pro. If you upload 4K, 4K is what you get. If you don´t, there is an issue with YouTube and the way it streams to different devices and or the devices as well. Post your question in a YouTube forum/facebook group/etc/etc as well for best help since you have an issue with YouTube, not Premiere Pro. 🙂

If you can watch the uploaded file in 4K at device A, there is not Premiere Pro´s fault that you cant see it at device B and C.

I have never heard of a similar issue, iow that one upload a (any resolution) file to YT and that Premiere Pro adds some code to the file so that some users on YT can only look at the file in lets say 720p though the file uploaded were 4K. If it happens, it always boils down to the device/player/streaming platform that for some odd reason fails to playback in max resolution. Update the web browser could fix it in some cases, as could Flash Player back in the day.

I can playback the youtube link as 4K in my web browser.

Maybe someone chimes in with a correct answer here. 🙂

Maybe there was a bug in 25.4 which made 4K output "unstable", throwing off recent changes in the YouTube 4K processor. I have no idea whether 25.5 adds any rendering-related changes, but I guess it's worth a shot.

Can you think of anything else I can test?

By @Tripecac2

Tripecac2Author

Inspiring

I finished re-rendering my video (2 hours of 4K 60 fps) with Premiere Pro, uploaded it to YouTube, and waited for the 4K processing to finish.

And again, on PC, I can watch it in 4K, but on the TV, it's limited to 1080p.

Any ideas how to fix this?

RobShultz

Community Expert

Have you always been outputting to the same 4K render format?

Tripecac2Author

Inspiring

Rob -

Thanks for responding!

Yes, I've always been exporting with the same preset using either Media Encoder or Premiere Pro itself. I use the TMPGEnc plugin (at CBR 200) when rendering final videos, but for rough drafts I just use the built-in CBR 100.

I looked at all 10 of most recently uploaded videos on 3 TV-related YouTube apps:

1) Chromecast for Google TV (connected to 1080p TV)

2) Google TV Streamer (connected to 4k TV)

3) Native YouTube app on 4k TV

I found that there are slight differences in the max resolution available on each device:

1) rough 1 (2hr CBR 100, 4 weeks ago) = 4K on all 3 devices (GOOD)

2) rough 2 (2 hr CBR 100, 9 days ago) = 1080p on all 3 devices (no 1440p or 4K option for any)

3) rough 3 (2 hr CBR 100, 7 days ago) = 1080p on all

4) outro 1 (8 min CBR 100, 7 days ago) = 1440p on Chromecast, 1080p on Streamer and Native

5) intro 2 (2 min CBR 100, 4 days ago) = 4K on Chromecast, 1440p on Streamer and Native

6) outro 2 (2 min CBR 100, 4 days ago) = 1440p on all

7) intro 3 (2 min CBR 100, 4 days ago) = 4K on Chromecast, 1440p on Streamer and Native

😎 outro 3 (2 min CBR 100, 4 days ago) = 1440p on all

9) final 1 (2 hr TMPGEnc CBR 200, 3 days ago) = 1080p on all, but it looks worse than that

10) final 2 (2 hr TMPGEnc CBR 200, 1 day ago) = 1080p on all

And again, all 10 videos are viewable in 4K in a browser, and on my phone. It's only the TV-related YouTube apps which have reduced maximum resolutions for some of the videos.

I didn't want to post any links to these videos, because (1) most of them are rough tests and (b) I don't want this topic to get flagged as self-promotion, which I'm trying to avoid. But if you *want* here's a link to the first (unlisted) final video (#9), which I uploaded 3 days ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZRgqFiuDVc

This is the video I wanted to publish, but it looks absolutely awful on both TVs. YouTube says the max resolution is 1080p but it looks even worse than that. Meanwhile, on my PC and phone, it looks perfectly fine and plays at 4K.

I don't understand why the TV-related YouTube apps are not "seeing" the 4K version of it. They're showing the correct Video I when I do "Stats for nerds". But they say the optimal resolution is 1080p instead of 4K. And this goes for the years-old Chromecast, the much newer Google TV Streamer, and the native YouTube app on the Samsung TV. They all fail to see the 4K stream for *this* video, but they can access 4K for the first rough draft (#1), which I uploaded 4 weeks ago.

Does YouTube generate *two* 4K streams, one for PC/Android and one for Chromecast/Streamer/TV?

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