New YouTube feature?

[gmcunni]

I was looking back at some of my videos on youtube <shamless self-promotion - http://www.youtube.com/user/garycunninghame> and noticed on a couple of the most recent ones had link to "watch in high quality". I don't recall seeing that before and sure enough, it worked great. What a difference!!

Has anyone seen this, is it a new feature or am i just slow in noticing it?

rumor has it that by adding "&fmt=18" (without quotes of course) to the end of any video link it will play in high quality mode.

 

[davidhowland14]

i just noticed too. i like it alot. it'll help youtube compete with other video sharing sites that do allow higher quality vids. sounds like google got a couple (hundred) more servers online.

 

[MichaelJ]

Rumor is correct, and if you do use &fmt=18 you get the text "Play in low-quality mode" so I believe the net result is the same whether you use it or the new higher-quality link.

For some videos it makes no difference, because they were already compressed to junk before even being uploaded, but for others its visually easy to see the change.