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

[Tripecac2]

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!

[mark_7293]

Very similar issue. Came across your topic searching for this problem. I am uploading 4K 50fps videos from Final Cut Pro for iPad to YouTube. 4K (2160p/25fps) no issue. But when I export 4K 50fps YouTube shows them as 1080p/50 after the export to YouTube. And ... they show up fine (4K 2160p/50) on my mobile devices iPhone and iPad running the YouTube app, the issue only occurs on my TV running YouTube on my Apple TV 4K. I tried the editing after the upload on YouTube studio and cutting the last clip. This makes YouTube render the video again and now it shows as 1440p/50 on my TV / Apple TV. So it seems to have increased the quality one level above the prior 1080p/50, but still not the 4K/2160p/50 it should have.

i tried exporting all video formats and combinations from fcp and importing them to YouTube but the same problem remains. It seems to be something on the backend of YouTube. First the issue did not seem to occur, but suddenly last week after uploading several short (2-10min) videos in 4K/2160p/25 and 4K/2160p/50 the problems started. First they would all show up fine on alle devices and platforms. But after a week YouTube "downgraded" the 4K/2160p/50 videos to 1080p/50 only on my TV/Apple TV. And now when I upload it maxes out only on my TV/Apple TV/Youtube.

Will be keeping an eye on the last post on this topic mentioning someone raising this issue with YouTube.

[Tripecac2]

What fixed it for me was using the YouTube Editor to delete the final frame of the video.  This forces YouTube to re-process the video, and after that it plays in 4K on TV.  I don't know why that works, but for me (and other that have tried it) it seems to work consisitently.  It's annoying that we have to do the extra step, though!

[Kevin8901]

This looks like a YouTube-side encoding or rollout issue rather than an export problem. Similar behavior has been noticed where newer uploads don’t immediately expose VP9 or AV1 4K streams to TV-based apps. Platforms focused on smooth playback quality often handle device compatibility differently, which is why users sometimes turn to alternatives like Download DixMax Apk when consistent high-resolution viewing matters.

[Meniscus]

I have been folowing this thread since I found it a couple weeks ago. I've been experiencing this same issue since September and it's been driving me nuts. I've been using the trim method but something seemed slightly off to me about it. So I did some tests. From what I can find, trimming to re-encode does in fact result in a quality loss from your original upload. at least in my files that I usualy encode in h264 at around 90Mbps. I also do biking POV videos and there is a large increase in the amount of smoothing applied to the texture of pavement after trimming. I'd go as far as to say the trimmed videos about split the difference between the "master"4k upload (as viewed on YT in a browser that shows it in 4k, not the quality of my export file from Premiere which is of course higher than all of them), and that master upload viewed in 1440p res. 

Also, one of my recent uploads seems to have achieved 4k res after a few weeks as I don't recall that I applied the trimming trick to it like I did with the follow up video. So the quandry now is upload the best 4k file and hope YT fixes this and that version just starts to play on TV/Apple TV in 4k (or if it does after being public for some period of time). Or trim it to get 4k right away, but with some permanant quality loss for everyone. 🤦🏻‍:male_sign: I'm attaching screenshots from in browser showing before trim in 4k, before trim in 1440p and post trim in 4k so you can see the results.

[Meniscus]

Actually, I'm more confused now. The quality difference may just be from adaptive streaming compression. I also discovered something quite odd. in all of my tests (watching 4k in browser) if you pause the video, and then slide the playhead back to the 1st frame of the video, it is significantly better quality that the rest of the video as it plays. Try it on my sample video post trimming in YT that I made unlisted. Frame 1 is almost the same quality as my output from Premiere, you can even see the little bit of noise/grain I add to improve compression. And the detail in the fence and trail surface is much better than once it plays. This tells me that even after trimming YT knows the quality of the uploaded file, but it just compesses it more on the fly.

I notice this effect a lot less on older uploaded videos. I've also noticed that 4k encodes on upload take a surprisingly short time recently, only minutes after 480 and 1080 encodes. Do they have a new "efficient" 4k vp9 encoder that makes a "quick" 4k encode, that then renders better behind the scenes and eventually replaces the initial one? And could that quick encode have something in it bugging out the TV players?