14 DAY TRIAL // One of the best things about YouTube (and yes, there are a lot of bad things about it too, but just don’t get me started on this) is the always-improving video quality, and the newer the video, the bigger the chances to get a 4K option.
And truth be told, it’s almost 2020 and pretty much everyone should be able to watch a video in 4K, no matter if we’re talking about mobile or PCs here. But when it comes to desktop platforms, there’s one surprising name that can’t render YouTube in 4K.
This might sound like a huge surprise for some of you, but Safari on macOS can’t play YouTube videos in 4K resolution for a reason that makes total sense at first glance, but which lacks any logic at further inspection.
Basically, it all comes down to the formats that YouTube uses and Safari supports. Beginning with 2017, YouTube uses VP9, a codec that allows the service to stream 4K videos faster and more efficiently to a wide variety of devices. VP9, which is a direct successor to VP8, is a format developed by Google itself, but which other companies must support to run YouTube in 4K.
As you should be able to figure out by now, Safari does not, as Apple decided to stick with H.265 codecs, which means the best it can get is 1440p and 1080p on YouTube and other services relying on VP9 for streaming media.
In other words, everything is a matter of using different codecs, and unless Apple aligns with Google’s requirements, there’s almost nothing you can do about it. And I said “almost nothing” for good reason.
4Ktube is a little Safari extension that helps you with deal with the lack of 4K support in Apple’s browser on macOS, but not in the way you think.
I mean, it’d be awesome to have a browser add-on enabling 4K YouTube in Safari, but since this isn’t possible, the next big thing is exactly what 4Ktube does.
The purpose of this extension is to let you know whenever the video that you’re watching in Safari has a 4K video and allow you to instantly open the clip in a different browser on your device that does support 4K on YouTube.
In plain English, it’s an automatic alternative to users manually copying YouTube video links and pasting them in Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox.
4Ktube places a small icon in the Safari toolbar, and when 4K resolution is detected for the video you’re watching, it shows a badge on its icon. Clicking this toolbar icon instantly launches the configured browser and points it to the same video with 4K enabled by default.
The extension supports all major browsers currently on macOS, including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Opera, and I’m pretty sure more would be added soon, such as Microsoft’s new Chromium-based Microsoft Edge browser.
There’s not much to configure about this extension pretty much because it boasts a rather simple purpose and does everything it says without too much effort. One thing I’d improve, however, is add right-click support for the toolbar icon and implement a context menu to select the browser to open the 4K video in, giving users more options on the go.
Everything is plug-and-play, so you install the extension, configure the browser you want to use for loading 4K videos, and that’s pretty much it. The only major drawback is that it comes with a $1.99 price tag, so you won’t be getting the extension for free.
THE BOTTOM LINE
This little Safari add-on is without a doubt the next best thing to having 4K support in Safari. And because this isn’t possible, you can either do the whole thing on your own, and copy links manually and then paste them in another browser, or use 4Ktube for the whole thing.
Everything is super-straightforward, and this is clearly the right approach, as cluttered interfaces and complex configuration settings wouldn’t make much sense for an extension with such a simple purpose.
As I said, if there’s a downside of 4Ktube is its $1.99 price tag, but let’s be honest about it, most of the apps and games for iPhone cost more than this and we still buy them.
At the end of the day, using Safari as the default browser on macOS shouldn’t mean giving up on 4K videos, and 4Ktube can help make sure this doesn’t happen. Just make sure you also install another browser with 4K YouTube support and you’re fully covered.
Below you can find a 4K video published by Apple itself, so you can easily test 4Ktube in Safari should you decide to give it a try.
