[FFBookman]

I did a shootout the other day between Youtube's FLAC channels and a ponoplayer loaded with 16/44 and 24bit FLAC's.
It was DAP vs Cloud, or "gadget" vs "ubiquitous".
See my initial thoughts here: wp.me/p2MP5A-13N
 
Bottom line, the Youtube FLAC's sounded pretty good but I have no idea what they were. At first listen I was impressed and the music hit me emotionally. Good stereo separation, good clarity. But as time wore on I had more fatigue and less engagement than I expected. By the end of most songs I was turning the volume down and trying to sort out if I heard digital loss. Overall better than usual MP3 and maybe even CD level, but not the full monty.
 
So does anyone know, in 2015, what youtube is able to stream when they claim it is a FLAC? I haven't had time to capture the stream and analyze it, and the owner of the youtube channel didn't answer my request for audio specs.

 

[philipp]

YouTube A/V specs are listed at https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/1722171?hl=en. Bottom line is that the highest quality uploads available are 1080p h.264 video with 384 Kbps AAC-LC stereo audio at a sample rate of 48 or 96khz, depending on what you upload.

Any references to FLAC on that site only concern the source material, not the file on YouTube.

 

[cel4145]

Since when did YouTube starting using FLAC for audio encoding? I thought it was ACC: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/1722171

 

[adisib]

No, that page is for recommended upload quality. That is not the quality that you get using youtube.
 
Youtube audio is 192 kbps AAC, though they supposedly keep a 256 kbps copy that isn't used.

 

[cel4145]

No, that page is for recommended upload quality. That is not the quality that you get using youtube.

Youtube audio is 192 kbps AAC, though they supposedly keep a 256 kbps copy that isn't used.

So it is AAC, but the streaming quality is less. Good to know.

 

[FFBookman]

I have to say, if that FLAC channel on youtube is playing 192k AAC's  -- that was the most fooled I've ever been by an mp3.
 
I have a hard time believing what I heard that night was 192k AAC. I listened to 5 songs or so and was impressed with the clarity and lack of artifacts.  Towards the end of each song I did get a bit fatigued but I didn't hear obvious degradation.
 
This was on 2 playback systems - a new Yamaha living room receiver ($200) and a PS4. Both were powered by the Yamaha's amp and running cheap monoprice surround speakers so I don't know what to make of it. I will have try this test again.

 

[web123]

  No, that page is for recommended upload quality. That is not the quality that you get using youtube.
 
Youtube audio is 192 kbps AAC, though they supposedly keep a 256 kbps copy that isn't used.

 
You can use it with some tools. I use youtube-dl : http://yt-dl.org
With Linux :
$ youtube-dl -F "https://youtu.be/MZgkClKE6hQ"
...
[info] Available formats for MZgkClKE6hQ:
format code  extension  resolution note
171          webm       audio only DASH audio  114k , audio@128k (44100Hz), 3.10MiB
140          m4a        audio only DASH audio  127k , m4a_dash container, aac  @128k (44100Hz), 3.63MiB
141          m4a        audio only DASH audio  255k , m4a_dash container, aac  @256k (44100Hz), 7.29MiB
...
$ youtube-dl -f 141 "https://youtu.be/MZgkClKE6hQ"
...
[download] Destination: Norah Jones - Miriam-MZgkClKE6hQ.m4a
[download] 100% of 7.29MiB in 00:00
...

 

[allindaze]

Youtube has recently begun allowing videos to be uploaded in 4K at 60FPS.
 
 
Here is a playlist of 6 examples...keep in mind 4K can only be viewed at this point using the Chrome browser.
 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=P...&v=-iSFM-T-F_0