At the top of the month, we reported that YouTube had begun testing a feature that locked out 4K resolution on the platform, making it exclusive to those that paid for its Premium subscription service. Now, the test has apparently been completed, as the company has stated that it has turned off the experiment, once again, making 4K streaming available to all.

Although YouTube does perform a lot of tests over the course of a year, this was perhaps one of its most interesting, creating a lot of conversation within the community. At the current time, it doesn't appear that the service will be pursuing this feature, but it's hard to tell if this will be something that it implements sometime in the future. While most smartphone users didn't really have an issue with this change, TV users were more vocal on the subject.

YouTube Premium does offer quite a few benefits, with one of the most important being that you get to watch content ad-free. In addition, you also gain the ability to download videos for offline play and play videos in the background, even while the screen is off. Furthermore, you also have the option of watching YouTube in picture-in-picture mode and gaining access to YouTube Originals. For those that love music, you also get a subscription to YouTube Music Premium. This may seem like a lot of extra perks for a premium subscription, but it also comes at a cost, as the service starts at $11.99 per month or $119.99 annually.

Thankfully, for the time being, YouTube users will be able to enjoy all resolutions for free. But there could come a day when the highest tier resolution is locked behind a paywall, so enjoy it while it lasts.

Source: YouTube (Twitter)