eli5 if my monitor is 1080p why does 4k look better than 1080p videos?

Question

shouldn’t 1080p and 4k have no difference if my monitor is only capable of displaying 1080p

In: 422

Answer 1

Streaming services never send you the uncompressed version of a video. There is always *some* data lost in compression.

However they do send you much more data when you’re watching the 4k stream versus the 1080p stream. The more data, the better your graphics card does at scaling down to the native resolution of your monitor.