# YouTube - "Watch in high Quality" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 22, 2008, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-watch-in-high-quality/469094 "2008-10-22T18:24:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SharkB8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/977dab/32.png) [@SharkB8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SharkB8)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2008, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-watch-in-high-quality/469094/1 "2008-10-22T18:24:28Z")
We posted a video for one of our clients, and I told them they could click “watch in high quality” to do just that. He called me and asked how to upload video with that option… And I have NO idea…it just happened. Anyone know? ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2008, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-watch-in-high-quality/469094/2 "2008-10-22T18:26:19Z")
Youtube converts their flash videos to h264 (I think) so that they can be viewed natively on the iphone/ipod touch. That’s also what you see when you click the “high quality” link. It should be automatic, I think. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2008, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-watch-in-high-quality/469094/3 "2008-10-22T20:21:34Z")
Yeah, it happens automatically for new uploads. I just checked my account to be sure. The one I uploaded two weeks ago had the “high quality” link, but my older ones from a couple years ago did not (because, of course, they no longer have the source file for that to re-encode at higher quality).