[Zico 10]

It has only worked for me on one video, but for others it works on all videos. I don't know why, but try your luck, hopefully it'll work for you.

To watch a YouTube clip in high quality you can add one of two text strings to the end of the video.

Low Quality - add nothing
Med Quality - add "&fmt=18" (without quotation marks)
High Quality - add "&fmt=6" (doesn't usually work)

Example;

Low - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Xz3Zi9Drh0
Medium - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Xz3Zi9Drh0&fmt=18

The above video didn't work for me (but has worked for many others :groan, but if it does work for you it'll give you a good insight into the quality difference since it's a fast paced animation with a lot of pixelation.

 

[Zico 10]

If it doesn't work for you, try to install the latest flash. I already had it installed, but reinstalling done the trick for me:

http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash

Look at the difference in quality:

turns to this:

 

[Okan]

Wow, thanks Tolga! The difference is huge!

The quality is so shit on Youtube but it's actually watch able now thanks to this.

Oh, and I had to reinstall Flash for it to work as well.

 

[A10]

Thanks for the tip

 

[Maturin]

Any hints on videos that get stuck all the time or don't play or just buffer? Any way to improve that. I thought the tip mentioned might help out problem videos on youtube like said the ones that get stuck but it makes it worse. Computer at work plays videos that I have problems with at home computer even though I pay to have good connection.

 

[Zico 10]

Videos getting stuck is either server problems on YouTube's side, or one of a variety of things on your side.

Using this trick (&fmt=18) to increase the quality of the video means that the video you're loading is of a larger file size (obviously, as it's higher quality). If it gets stuck more often like you said, the reason is probably because either your internet connection isn't very fast, or because you have a variety of other applications (or users on your network) using up your internet connections bandwidth.

You can test your connection speed here:
http://www.speedtest.net/

 

[Blaz]

Mine still doesn't work after reinstalling the latest flash player, any ideas Şeytan

 

[Zico 10]

Which browser are you on? I'm having some trouble myself on IE7, but Mozilla and Opera work perfectly for me.

 

[Blaz]

Work's on Mozilla. Geez, comparing the two qualities it's a vast difference. Cheers mate :thmbup:

 

[Maturin]

Thanks Seytan. Think some videos have server problems which is just one of those things. I'll also be looking to upgrade on my side. I'm paying more at the moment when there are other packages available with better connection speed, performance etc. for lower price! So many new packages that I have not been keeping an eye on. My bad.

 

[Zico 10]

It works on Internet Explorer too, so long as you install Adobe Flash Player 9 seperately for Internet Explorer.

So for Mozilla and Opera:
1 - Visit this link and download the Flash Player.
2 - Close your browser and install it
3 - Enjoy high quality YouTube by placing &fmt=18 at the end of video links.

*** Installing it once is enough, it'll fix both Mozilla and Opera so you don't need to install it once for each, just once in total.

For Internet Explorer (and IE based browsers, such as Maxthon):
1 - Visit this link and install the Flash Player. The installation for IE is seperate from the installation for Mozilla and Opera, that's why it wasn't working for me.
2 - No need to close your browser, just install and head to YouTube placing &fmt=18 at the end of video links.

You need to do it seperately if you use IE and one of the other browsers. It's working perfectly for me on IE now too (not that I use it, just needed to get to the bottom of it since most people here probably do).

This trick only popped up overnight, so not much is known about it yet. Everything I've said and done is what I've figured out about it.

EDIT - Realised a few things about file types.

Normal files on YouTube are low quality FLV files. The &fmt=18 files are MP4, and the supposed higher quality &fmt=6 files are again FLV, but of a much higher bitrate than normal.

 

[AzeriWolf]

THANX MANNNNNNNN!!!!!!I tried on my video,it worked..Its amazing
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=SwJrAgCWqro

 

[cenko43]

yay, anglofeb clips in high quality now

 

[Bentex]

Thanks for the tip Tolga :thmbup: