Apple TV 4K won't play 4K YouTube videos because of missing Google codec

While the Apple TV 4K can play 4K videos from sources like iTunes and Netflix, that support is conspicuously missing from one of the most popular tvOS apps, YouTube.

YouTube videos are limited to 1080p, according to early reviewers such as The Verge. The issue appears to be Apple's decision not to support Google's VP9 codec, despite it being open and free to use. The same problem prevents 4K YouTube videos from playing in the Mac and iOS versions of Safari.

Apple reportedly has no timeframe for when — or if — it will add VP9. The Apple TV relies on H.264/HEVC, the company's preferred video format across all its devices.

The lack of 4K YouTube video could be problematic for Apple, since that service has a growing library of 4K content, and rival devices like the Roku Ultra, Chromecast Ultra, and Amazon Fire TV do offer the higher resolution.

The new Apple TV is also missing support for Dolby Atmos surround sound, despite simultaneously pioneering Dolby's Vision HDR format. In that case however, Apple has promised a software update.

The Apple TV 4K ships this Friday, starting at $179 for a 32-gigabyte model.

86 Comments

netrox 1501 comments · 12 Years

About 7 years ago

That is incredibly stupid of Apple to refuse to support free open standards.

anantksundaram 20390 comments · 18 Years

C'mon, Apple. Do the needed negotiations/due diligence to make sure things play nice with at least the top handful of software partners that your users really use, before releasing a major software update.

Btw, in my organization, people have been told to not upgrade to iOS11 because it cannot send mail via Outlook/Exchange. Quoting from the memo, "...An error appears stating "Cannot Send Mail. The message was rejected by the server." Apple is working to resolve this, and expects a fix soon. [XYZ] recommends NOT upgrading to this version of iOS at this time."

Pathetic.

maestro64 5029 comments · 19 Years

netrox said:

That is incredibly stupid of Apple to refuse to support free open standards.

Or maybe Google is not following the open standard as well as they should thus the reason it does not work with Apple built in codec. Apple is using the standards that are currently available, sometimes a controlled standard is better than an open standard which allows people to do was the like

tbsteph 95 comments · 17 Years

Who died and made GOOG the final arbiter of all that is video?

clymans 18 comments · 16 Years

anantksundaram said:

C'mon, Apple. Do the needed negotiations/due diligence to make sure things play nice with at least the top handful of software partners that your users really use, before releasing a major software update.

Btw, in my organization, people have been told to not upgrade to iOS11 because it cannot send mail via Outlook/Exchange. Quoting from the memo, "...An error appears stating "Cannot Send Mail. The message was rejected by the server." Apple is working to resolve this, and expects a fix soon. [XYZ] recommends NOT upgrading to this version of iOS at this time."

Pathetic.

Hmmm...I have multiple IOS 11 devices deployed using security profiles installed via an MDM server in our organization to access mail (sending and receiving) on an Exchange 2013 server and it appears to be working flawlessly. Just providing anecdotal evidence that it isn't failing to work with Exchange in all organizations. It is possible your company's config is causing the issue.