Youtube: 4K videos soon only with premium subscriptions?

Individual Youtube users and users complain on Twitter and Reddit that they suddenly need a premium subscription from Youtube to watch 4K videos in high definition. In the screenshots, the 2160p option in the playback resolutions has a "Premium" tag, and for some users, a "Tap to Upgrade" text. Both mobile and desktop versions of YouTube appear to be affected.

So far, only a handful of users have come forward with screenshots - so it appears to be a limited test on Youtube's part. The company has not yet commented on the reports. In recent weeks, the world's largest video portal has already made itself unpopular with its users with another experiment. Individual users were shown up to eleven non-skippable adverts before a video was played.

Youtube Premium currently costs CHF 15.90 per month. With the subscription, videos can be played without advertisements. In addition, subscribers get the option to play their videos in the background and save them locally on the playback device. Youtube Music Premium is also included in the subscription. Let's hope that 4K and 8K playback will not actually become part of the Premium offer - and that Youtube will add new features in the future instead of locking previously free functions behind a paywall.