YouTube, in addition to being the most popular video platform in the world, is also widely used as a platform to listen to music, since it is free and we can find virtually any song. If we listen to music on a quality computer or headphones, we can see that the sound quality is limited, but how much?
YouTube has changed the sound quality of its videos in recent years
Until a few years ago, YouTube offered various sound qualities depending on the resolution at which we were watching the video. In 2013 it was possible to have up to 192 kbps in videos that were uploaded with 720p resolution or higher, and between 2013 and 2016 the maximum quality stood at 256 kbps. Unfortunately, YouTube changed its policy, and today the sound quality in the videos is lower.
Specifically, the maximum sound quality that we can currently obtain from YouTube is 128 kbps, even if we download the video in 4K. The reason behind this is that the best sound quality for YouTube Red is saved. Subscribers can also access the “maximum” quality of Google Play Music with 320 kbps. Other services such as Tidal offer maximum sound quality in FLAC format without compression, which reaches more than 1,000 kbps.
128 kbps is the highest quality if we download music in MP3 or AAC from YouTube
In order to determine the sound quality, we have used 4K Video Downloader, which allows us to select the “Original” sound option when downloading a video from the platform in MP4 format. Thus, we have been selecting different video resolutions, and we have obtained the following results:
2160p: 128 kbps
1440p: 128 kbps
1080p: 128 kbps
720p: 128 kbps
480p: 128 kbps
360p: 96 kbps
240p: 48 kbps
With this, we see that someone who is watching something in 480p with mobile connection is getting the same sound quality as someone who is watching a 4K video at home with fiber optic connection. With this policy, YouTube seeks more users to subscribe to YouTube Red, but the truth is that few will do so, since 128 kbps is the minimum that can be required of the sound to hear it in an acceptable way. The format used by YouTube for sound is AAC.
However, if instead of viewing the MP4 version of the video and we are watching one in WebM with Opus sound (only the most popular are encoded as well), the sound quality goes up to 156-160 kbps. The problem is that most of what we see is as much in MP4, and what we download from websites and programs that allow you to download MP3 from YouTube, regardless of the quality that we put, will be at most 128 kbps. If you want to have a higher quality, you can try to check the description of the video, since many channels usually put links to download the song in 320 kbps.
Older videos, usually prior to the introduction of HD on the platform, have a much more limited sound quality. A song in 480p and 360p from 2011 back has a quality of 96 kbps, and 64 kbps for 240p.
