Differences between the formats of 240p, 360p, 480p, 720p, 1080p, HD, 2K, 4K and their bit rate. 360 degree panoramic videos. Connection speed and bandwidth required to watch and play videos without interruption.
Everyone who accesses YouTube or other websites in search of music videos, documentaries, series or movies, we see that there are several nominations referring to quality or resolution such as 360p, HD, 1080p, 4K and recently 360 degree videos, terms They cause confusion.
The same happens when we want to acquire a television, a monitor for the computer or a cell phone and we are not clear about the resolutions they support and the video formats they can play.
In this article we explain the difference between these terms used to specify the quality in the world of digital video, we explain its characteristics and which one is the most suitable to enjoy YouTube content.
Resolutions of videos on YouTube
The YouTube service allows you to view the videos in various resolutions, so that each user can watch them without interruptions and at the same time can enjoy the highest resolution and quality, which allows your device and the speed of the internet connection you use.
Below we explain the characteristics of the most used and most recent resolutions.
Videos in 240p and 144p
Both video resolutions are used in devices with small screens and slow internet connections, such as dial-up (56K), which are still being used in several countries.
360p videos (standard definition quality)
360p is the traditional web resolution, used in the vast majority of web pages that show impregnated YouTube videos.
In this size, videos load and play quickly on standard connections and are viewed correctly if they are not maximized.
HD videos (high resolution)
The HD video format for a long time was videos with the highest quality and resolution available at that time.
HD stands for high resolution (hight resolution), they offer excellent quality on displays of portable devices such as phones and tablets.
On the screens of computers and televisions that support it, they look correctly.
Two types of videos in HD quality are available on YouTube: 1080p or Full HD and 720p.
1080 videos
1080p is an alternative name used to designate the maximum resolution used in high definition (HD).
A video with the 1080p rating indicates that it is recorded in Full HD so its resolution is 1920 by 1080 pixels.
The same goes for the devices that indicate that they support this resolution.
The number 1080 represents 1080 horizontal lines and the letter p means progressive scan.
There are devices and TV screens that only support other resolution known as 1080i.
The letter i in this case indicates interlaced (from the English ‘interlaced’).
1080i is a name to refer to the high-definition devices that they use in interlaced mode, that is, they contain half the pixels with respect to 1080p, although they keep the width and height of the videos.
4K videos
The so-called 4K is a recent video format, which is gradually imposed on the internet and at home. It is the one that currently allows maximum resolution and quality.
Many videos are currently available on YouTube in 4K quality, similar to the content offered by the Netflix TV service.
4K videos use a higher resolution than the previous HD (about four times), allowing a reproduction with photographic quality, which allows us to see details similar to an 8 megapixel photo.
They allow to see incredible details with an extraordinary sharpness, that otherwise would go unnoticed There are currently two formats of 4K videos, the one used in the cinema and on television, with differences in width, height and aspect resolution.
