Browsers that support YouTube 1080p60 and 720p60 steaming.

[A.Y.]

I've replaced all of my YouTube 30p videos with the 60p version to take advantage of the new high frame rate streaming. Comparing to the source files I uploaded, YouTube 1080p60 videos are only a little softer, but difficult to noticed playing at 60fps.

60p videos will play silky smooth if you use the right browser and your computer is fast enough.

On a quad-core i7 27" iMac:
OSX Yosemite: Safari plays 1080p60 smoothly; however, Chrome stutters and FireFox doesn't show any 60p HD options.
Windows 8.1: IE plays 1080p60 smoothly without problem, however, Chrome stutters badly and FireFox doesn't show any 60p HD options.

YouTube high frame rate steaming has only been available since October 2014 so it definitely has a lot of room for improvement. This is a big step in the right direction as more and more people are shooting 50/60p for 50/60p playback.

 

[EL Pistoffo]

I happened to look into the 1080/60 stuttering issues with Chrome earlier today because I have the same problem. It's has been narrowed down to certain hardware specific codecs mostly attributed to AMD GPU's. Google and YouTube are still working on a fix. I see to 60 fps results from either Firefox or IE. I have Win7. When YouTube videos are selected at 720/60 they play just fine.

A temporary workaround is to disable hardware acceleration in Chromes advanced settings but the resulting 1080/60 playback appears to be at 30 fps but it at least plays fine.

 

[A.Y.]

You're right - disable hardware acceleration in Chromes advanced settings also turns the 60p to 30p on my computer.

It's good to know that FireFox under Win7 can access YouTube 60p videos.

 

[EL Pistoffo]

It's good to know that FireFox under Win7 can access YouTube 60p videos.

It does not play smooth for me in Firefox though it does still play better than it does in Chrome. My Firefox does not list the 1080 as 60 when selected through the YouTube gear button.

 

[A.Y.]

One good news for the Mac users: Finally, Mac version of FireFox v.35.1 now supports HTML5 video so all four major browsers - Safari, IE, Chrome, FireFox - can play 60p MP4 videos directly from a web page without Flash and without going the YouTube route.

This allows the website owners to stream 60p MP4 videos at higher bitrate than YouTube and Vimeo.

 

[kelemvor]

I don't have any 1080p60 content of my own, but here's a video I found of someone's video game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p69WWoB6nyk

For what it's worth, the video plays fine in Firefox nightly. No stuttering or anything abnormal. Even with another tab open on scubaboard and a third playing music from google play at the same time.

That's Firefox 38.0a1 from here: https://nightly.mozilla.org/

Edit: also plays flawlessly for me in Chrome 40.0.2214.111 m

Also plays flawlessly for me in Internet Exploder 11.0.9600.1798 with update 11.0.15

I'm on windows 8.1 All three browsers listed 1080p60 for this video and had no particular problem playing. My hardware was really beefy when I built this computer but it's almost 5 years old now.



Sounds to me like this is an browser defect in a few older browser builds. Not sure why you've got chrome problems and I don't.


4k shows up for me in all three browsers when the video is actually HD, but playback is horrible. Chrome and IE beat firefox a little at 4k but really none of them are worth watching. Here's an HD video (since you really can't call 1080p HD now that 4k is a thing) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pxRHBw-k8M

 

[A.Y.]

It's good to know that FireFox v.38 which is still being tested can play YouTube 1080p60 without problem. I'm using the latest release v.35.1 under Win 8.1 and OSX Yosemite and 60p options are not displayed. Hopefully, v.38 will be released soon.

Apparently, Chrome is having issues with some AMD/ATI GPU, which I have hence 1080p60 playback is not good. Hopefully it'll get sorted out soon.

 

[EL Pistoffo]

I don't have any 1080p60 content of my own, but here's a video I found of someone's video game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p69WWoB6nyk

Interestingly, I just played that video with Chrome and it played just fine on 1080/60. I wonder if they've sorted out the issue already. I have Windows 7.

That looks like an interesting game BTW.

 

[A.Y.]

On my computer:
YouTube 60p game video: Chrome/Windows 8.1 plays 1080p60 smooth.
YouTube 60p real-life video: Chrome/Windows 8.1 only plays 720p60 smooth.

 

[EL Pistoffo]

On my computer:
YouTube 60p game video: Chrome/Windows 8.1 plays 1080p60 smooth.
YouTube 60p real-life video: Chrome/Windows 8.1 only plays 720p60 smooth.

Hmm. I gotta check that out myself.