Safari video playback

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Level 1

4 points

Safari video playback

Hi, I am using an iPhone 13 with iOS 16.2. Although I love it, I find it really strange that I cannot select in what resolution I want to watch videos on internet browsers (tried Safari, Chrome and Firefox). My old OnePlus 6 makes videos look better because it does let me do this. Strangely enough, the iPhone seems stuck in 360p all the time. Even with perfectly fast WiFi. Why is there no option in the default video player to select video quality like you can in, for example, the YouTube app?

Now there’s this fantastic expensive phone with a great display which gets beaten in video playback quality by cheap, 5 year old Androids…

Is there any way to make safari play videos in higher quality? If not, when can we expect this option (which should have been there already for years)?

FYI, I tested 1080p videos on multiple websites in the multiple browsers mentioned above. The iPhone never let me change the quality… every website I tried used the crappy default video player.

Posted on Dec 16, 2022 2:39 AM

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Answer 1

Dec 16, 2022 12:00 PM in response to capLars

Hello!

Thanks for posting your question. I understand you have a concern about video resolution when playing videos in Safari.

You are correct that there's not a setting to change a video's resolution within Safari, but there may be some steps you can try to help narrowing this down. Knowing that the issue occurs on both cellular and Wi-Fi and that you're running iOS 16.2 is helpful.

I recommend trying video playback on the same websites using a different browser. When you try this, how does it look?

Also, how does video in Safari look if you rotate your display?

Good luck!

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Answer 2

capLars Author

Level 1

4 points

Dec 16, 2022 12:21 PM in response to AdammTylerr

Hi! Thank you for the reply. As mentioned in my original question I tried with three different browsers. All with the same result. I just tried rotating the screen as you said but this did not do anything for the video quality.

In all fairness, the HTML video player should have an option to manually select the video quality as well as an automatic option. Again, this is an €850 device being beaten by a €100 Android (on the same WiFi network), it’s ridiculous, really. Just because of a software option being excluded.

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Answer 3

Dec 16, 2022 12:48 PM in response to capLars

Hello there, this problem is easy to solve. iPhone 13 using safari watching video on youtube, you can change revolution to 720p on the right corner settings icons. ( Maybe support 1080p, if not ), Safari can not play on PiP

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Answer 4

capLars Author

Level 1

4 points

Dec 16, 2022 12:57 PM in response to BimHelper

Hi, I’m not sure that you have understood my question. My issue is not with YouTube. My issue is, for example, on some news websites which have videos. Those play in the default iOS HTML video player. This does not have an option to change the resolution setting. And my iPhone seems to always use the lowest quality.

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Answer 5

Dec 16, 2022 12:42 PM in response to capLars

I agree. I feel like Apple restricts these options for future Apple devices so others will continue to buy new iPhones for these possible upcoming features.

Also, interesting fact. It costs about 400$ (apparently) for a new iPhone to be manufactured, but they charge almost 1,000$ for it 🥲

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Safari video playback

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