Eli5 Why do 4k videos look better than 1080p on a 1080p screen?
In: Technology
It’s due to the level of compression and higher bit rate. I always watch in 1440p when it’s available on a YouTube video even though I own a 1080p IPS monitor.
If you’re talking about online streaming videos (e.g. Youtube), the resolution isn’t just the resolution but also affects the compression level. The 1080p version isn’t a perfect detail 1080p video, it’s compressed which adds some blurriness and stuff (but makes the file smaller). The 4k version is also compressed which adds some blurriness and stuff. The 4k version has more detail in it than the 1080p one, even after the compression does its thing. And a lot of the detail is big enough to see even after you shrink it.
[removed]
For the same reason that resolution supersampling will lead to a better visual experience in a game despite running at the same on-screen resolution.
When you render a game at, say, 4K, but display it on a 1080p screen, there is more “data” for the output device to use in determining what the final image should look like-in fact, there is 4x the amount of data. Using some processing trickery, the output device and the display can generate a superior 1080p image.
Even more basically, it’s exactly the reverse of the reason why 480p looks so much worse on a high-resolution screen than it does on a really old CRT or ancient LCD panel.
can you give an example?
[removed]
Latest Answers