YouTube live streams now support HTML5 playback and 60fps video
YouTube today announced it is enabling HTML5 playback for live streams. At the same time, live streams can now be viewed at 60 frames-per-second. — A few puzzle pieces had to come together to make this possible.
Context & Ripple Effects
This closes the loop on YouTube's January decision to make HTML5 the default playback technology instead of Flash: what began as an on-demand switch now covers live streams too, removing Flash from the last part of the pipeline where plugins were still required. The 60fps addition builds on the limited 4K/60fps experiments from March, moving high-frame-rate video from a test bucket into standard live delivery.
First-order effects
- Live broadcasters on YouTube can now stream at 60fps without viewers needing Flash or a plugin, putting game streaming and fast-motion content on equal technical footing with VOD.
Second-order effects
- Twitch, the dominant live competitor still running on Flash at this point, had already committed to ditching Flash for HTML5 in 2016 — YouTube making HTML5 live standard raises the cost of staying on the older stack.
Third-order effects
- With HTML5 live proven out, YouTube kept raising the ceiling on live formats — 4K live streams including 360-degree video followed in 2016 and HDR live support by 2020 — pushing the whole industry toward plugin-free, high-fidelity broadcasting as table stakes.
The trend: Live video platforms are converging on open web standards like HTML5 as the delivery layer, with frame rate and resolution upgrades compounding on top of that base.