macOS 11 Big Sur: Beta 4 plays YouTube content for the first time in 4K via Safari

YouTube in 4K is finally coming to Safari on the Mac

With macOS 11 Big Sur, Apple is working on the next version of its desktop operating system for the Mac, named after a 100-km-long coastal strip in the US state of California. In addition to various bug fixes, the update to Beta 4 provides support for Youtube content in 4K via Safari for the first time.

Youtube in 4K thanks to VP9 in Safari

Due to Apple’s refusal to support Google’s VP9 codec competing with H.265, Youtube’s 4K streams could not be played back via the Safari browser - users were previously limited to Full HD and less.

With macOS 11 Big Sur Beta 4, the corresponding content is now available for the first time in resolutions of 1,440p (2K) and 2,160p (4K). In the future, users of macOS will no longer necessarily have to take a detour and switch to Google Chrome or similar browsers.

Apple has already released macOS 11 Big Sur Beta 4 to developers, delivering the new pre-release along with the macOS 11 SDK and Xcode 12 Beta 4. As usual, the developers have summarized all the new features, various bug fixes and unresolved problems in the official release notes.

Public beta expected soon

In the next few days, the first public beta based on macOS 11 Big Sur Beta 4 with build number 20A5343i is expected, with which also participants of the beta program can test the new pre-release version.