YouTube 8K video crashes computers
June 12, 2015
YouTube has launched support for 8K video, allowing users to watch videos in such high resolutions that it reportedly crashes their computer.
The first 8K film, entitled Ghost Towns, is a video of a person exploring an abandoned settlement. It was shot on a special RED Epic Dragon 6K Camera and then stitched together to get the full 8K effect. Because the cameras only shoot 6K images, the filmmakers shot the video in portrait and then stitched pieces of it together to get to the full resolution. Other shots are upscaled by 125 per cent to go from 6.1K to 7.6K, the video description says.
The video should be able to run on Safari or Chrome, and can be watched within YouTube. But because of the processing power used, computers almost always crash when watching it — and most people won’t be able to see all the pixels, anyway, as 4K monitors are not particularly widespread.