YouTube has supported 4K for several years, but it just recently announced 4K streaming. This marks a huge step for live streaming content, which has taken hold in popular social media channels like Facebook and Twitter. By being one of the first to support this new ultra-high resolution format, the video company is carving out an important slice of the user generated content market.
For the broadband and mobile industries, of course, this has the potential to mean greater pressure on networks to stream more and more high-definition content. However, with 4K video cameras coming to more phones, and new gigabit connections becoming a reality across the country, 4K live streaming may soon be very commonplace. At least YouTube is betting on it.