Forcing Youtube to provide HQ videos when it normally wont

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Mozgus
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Forcing Youtube to provide HQ videos when it normally wont

Post by Mozgus »

Handy little trick I just found today. I don't know if anyone else knew this. Basically, youtube has been providing alternate "high quality" versions of the popular videos. The link for the option will appear below the video screen for videos that qualify for it.

The thing is, provided that the original upload met certain specifications, youtube kept, and still retains a high quality version of practically every video on their service. I dont know how long they've been doing it, but one of my videos from December 2006 works with this trick.

All you have to do is add the following characters to the end of the video url.

&fmt=18

Make sure it's a clean URL, and not one with search parameters and shit on the tail. I dont know if it will work with that. To get the clean url, go to the video description, and it provides it in a box.

Compare one of my videos before and after the trick.




When it works, the trick basically raises the resolution and bitrate of the video, and enables stereo sound. Youtube is probably not enabling all the videos for this feature due to bandwidth reasons, but hell, feel free to exploit the trick. Always be sure to check for the HQ link on a video before doing this,, but more often than not, there won't be one when there technically could be.
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GSZX1337
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Post by GSZX1337 »

I remember reading about this in an Anandtech thread. There was also a link to a plugin that adds in the characters for you . I'll be sure to look for it. ;)
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Doctor Fugue
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Post by Doctor Fugue »

Yes I remember reading this on dannychoo.com, and I thought there was a way to have youtube always play the higher quality version by changing a setting in your profile. I can't seem to find it now. I definitely remember watching a few videos without having to input the extra bit every time.

Edit. Ahh. A plugin..can't remember where it came from. I'm uselss, basically.
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Post by Droid party »

This has been around for a couple of months now.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=hFXsG63bHjk A little surprised it's still taking this long to filter around.
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Mozgus
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Post by Mozgus »

doctorfugue wrote:Yes I remember reading this on dannychoo.com, and I thought there was a way to have youtube always play the higher quality version by changing a setting in your profile. I can't seem to find it now. I definitely remember watching a few videos without having to input the extra bit every time.

Edit. Ahh. A plugin..can't remember where it came from. I'm uselss, basically.
That setting in your youtube profile only applies to videos they have deemed worthy of HQ, which aren't many. This trick works on just about every video that was uploaded with higher specs than 320x240 and more than mono sound.
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Ramatut4001
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Post by Ramatut4001 »

That's pretty cool, thanks!
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Post by pobhockle »

There's been an option there for a while now where it'll do it automatically.

Find it in your personal settings (needs login) http://youtube.com/video_quality_settings
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Mozgus
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Post by Mozgus »

pobhockle wrote:There's been an option there for a while now where it'll do it automatically.

Find it in your personal settings (needs login) http://youtube.com/video_quality_settings
And theres a post 2 posts above your's that explains why that doesn't work. Read.
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