Computer game fans who like to watch game footage on YouTube are sure to be thrilled with the latest announcement.
YouTube has announced that it will now support 60 frames-per-second live streaming, which is an important step for game fans who use the site to watch live streams of other gamers.
Live streaming gets an upgrade
Last October, YouTube enabled 60 fps playback of uploaded videos, which meant that fans of games like Call of Duty were able to watch impressively smooth footage. Commentators are impressed that the site has been able to make the jump to live streaming in just seven months.
The site claims that the 60 fps option is still in the early stages of testing, so viewers must be using a HTML5-compatible browser. Popular browsers which meet this requirement include the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer, and Opera.
The 60 fps live streams will be encoded in 720p60 and 1080p60 formats automatically. Should a user be on a device which is not capable of handling 60 fps video, or does not have a browser which supports HTML5, then the video stream will be converted to 30 fps.
YouTube keeps up with Twitch
YouTube also took the opportunity to announce that all live video streams will use HTML5 playback from this point onward. The change means that it will now be possible to rewind live broadcasts in order to watch something again, and subsequently watch at double speed so that you can catch up.
YouTube will also provide tools to developers so that they can easily enable 60 fps on apps which use the live streaming API.
Activities such as sporting events will benefit from the 60 fps live streams, but more importantly the new feature means that YouTube stays up to speed with Twitch, a popular gameplay streaming service. In order to stop gamers leaving YouTube, the site partnered with video capture vendors Elgato and XSplit in order to make the Elgato Game Capture, XSplit Broadcaster and XSplit Gamecaster easily compatible with the new 60 fps live streams.
Each of the game capture programs are available for download today.
