YouTube Download Only 360p or 720p? How to Get 1080p and 4K
In short
A YouTube download stops at 360p or 720p when the tool saved a combined stream instead of merging the separate video and audio streams. 1080p and 4K come only as video-only streams that ffmpeg joins to the audio. B-ROLL installs ffmpeg and merges them; a file still at low resolution usually means a Quality cap or an outdated yt-dlp.
On this page
Why does a YouTube download stop at 360p or 720p?
A YouTube download stops at 360p or 720p because the tool saved a stream that already holds picture and sound, and those combined streams are low resolution. As of September 2026, YouTube serves 1080p, 1440p and 4K only as video-only streams, with the audio in a separate stream.
The yt-dlp README documents the fallback. When ffmpeg is unavailable, the default format choice becomes best/bestvideo+bestaudio, and best means the best format that contains both video and audio. Any tool without a merge step lands on that combined stream.
The table lists the low-resolution symptoms editors run into, with the cause and the fix for each.
| What you see | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| An online downloader site offers 720p or 360p at most | The site saves a combined stream, or caps resolution on purpose | Use a tool that merges streams with ffmpeg; see online downloader vs desktop app vs browser extension |
| A 1080p file plays with no sound | A video-only stream was saved without its audio | Download again with a tool that merges video and audio |
| yt-dlp on the command line saves a low-resolution file | ffmpeg is not installed, so yt-dlp falls back to a combined format | Install ffmpeg, then run the command again |
| The B-ROLL card says 720p or 480p | Quality is set to 720p or 480p | Set Quality to Best or 4K, then click ↻ on the card |
The B-ROLL TOOLS panel says ffmpeg: missing |
B-ROLL has no ffmpeg to merge with | Click Reinstall tools, then ↻ |
| 4K was picked but the file is 1080p | The video was uploaded at 1080p | Nothing to fix: 1080p is the top stream on YouTube |
| A 1440p video comes out at 1080p | Quality is set to 1080p; the app has no 1440p option | Pick Best or 4K |
| The preview player looks soft | The preview is capped at 720p | Nothing to fix: the download uses your Quality setting |
Why do 1080p and 4K YouTube downloads need ffmpeg?
ffmpeg is a free, open-source multimedia toolkit (About FFmpeg) that, among other jobs, joins a video-only stream and an audio-only stream into one file. YouTube delivers resolutions above 720p as separate video and audio streams that must be merged with ffmpeg, so a downloader without it cannot hand you a 1080p file with sound.
You can see the split yourself. Run yt-dlp -F with a video link and read the format list: as of September 2026, the 1080p, 1440p and 2160p rows say video only, and the audio rows say audio only. The README describes the merge as -f bestvideo+bestaudio, which downloads the best video-only format and the best audio-only format and muxes them together with ffmpeg.
The same split explains the silent 1080p file from the table. A tool that saves the video-only stream and skips the merge gives you the picture and drops the audio. The toolkit’s other jobs, from cutting sections to converting formats, are covered in what ffmpeg is and why downloaders need it.
How does B-ROLL get 1080p and 4K from YouTube?
B-ROLL installs ffmpeg on first launch and asks yt-dlp for the best video stream up to your Quality cap plus the best audio stream, then merges them. The selector behind the Quality menu is bestvideo[height<=N]+bestaudio/best, where N is the height of the cap you pick.
The table shows what each Quality option asks for.
| Quality option | Height cap | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Best (default) | None | The highest resolution YouTube has for the video, 1440p included |
| 4K | 2160 | Up to 2160p; a 1080p upload stays 1080p |
| 1080p | 1080 | Up to 1080p |
| 720p | 720 | Up to 720p |
| 480p | 480 | Up to 480p |
B-ROLL also keeps its tools current. At every launch it updates yt-dlp to the latest nightly build, and on first launch it installs Deno, the JavaScript runtime the yt-dlp EJS wiki recommends. The sidebar’s Advanced panel shows the state under TOOLS: ffmpeg: ready or ffmpeg: missing, JS runtime: ready or JS runtime: missing.
Resolution is only half of an edit-ready file. As of September 2026, the 2160p rows of a yt-dlp -F list are VP9 or AV1, and an MP4, MKV or WEBM from B-ROLL holds whichever codec yt-dlp picked. On Ema Zamboni’s own DaVinci Resolve timeline, 4K60 AV1 downloads were heavy to play back, so B-ROLL can convert the merged file into ProRes or DNxHR at the same resolution and frame rate.
What if the B-ROLL file is still low resolution?
A B-ROLL file still at 360p or 720p points to one of four causes: the Quality cap, a missing ffmpeg, an outdated yt-dlp or the upload itself. Check them in this order, cheapest first.
- Check Quality in the main window. If it reads 720p or 480p, set it to Best.
- Open the sidebar’s Advanced panel and read TOOLS. If it shows
ffmpeg: missingorJS runtime: missing, click Reinstall tools and wait for── Reinstall complete ──in the log. - Close and reopen B-ROLL, which updates yt-dlp to the latest nightly build, or click Force update yt-dlp.
- Click ↻ on the finished card. B-ROLL downloads the video again with the current settings and overwrites the old file.
- Right-click the card, choose Open on YouTube and open the player’s Quality list. If 1080p is the top entry, 1080p is the most any tool can give you.
One setup quirk explains most missing tools. If an ffmpeg was already on the Windows PATH at first launch, B-ROLL used it and skipped its own ffmpeg and the Deno download; Reinstall tools fetches both.
When the download fails with an error instead of a small file, the cause is different: see fix HTTP Error 403 Forbidden on YouTube downloads. Every other failure has its fix on YouTube downloader not working? Fixes for editors.
How do you check the resolution of a downloaded YouTube file?
Every B-ROLL card shows the real bitrate and resolution of the file, for example Real bitrate 8.2 Mbps · 1080p. While the file downloads, the number is YouTube’s own estimate; once the download finishes, B-ROLL measures it on the file itself.
The card gives the height only, such as 1080p or 2160p, and never the codec or frame rate. How the reading works is explained in see the real bitrate and resolution of YouTube files. For the codec, frame size and frame rate, point the ffmpeg that B-ROLL installed at the file from a Command Prompt:
"%LOCALAPPDATA%\Broll\ffmpeg.exe" -hide_banner -i "Title.mp4"The Stream #0:0 line names the codec (h264, vp9 or av1), the frame size such as 1920x1080 and the frame rate. ffmpeg then says that at least one output file must be specified; that is expected, because you asked only for the file’s details.
The resolution label alone does not tell you how much detail survived. Two 1080p files of the same video can carry very different bitrates, and the reasons are in what bitrate YouTube streams at 1080p and 4K.
Frequently asked questions
Why do online sites cap at 720p?
Online downloader sites often save a stream YouTube has already combined, because joining separate 1080p video and audio takes ffmpeg and server time for every request. A cap can also be a business choice that points you to a paid tier. A desktop tool that runs ffmpeg on your own PC merges the full resolution itself. The merge step is explained in what ffmpeg is and why downloaders need it.
Is the video really available in 4K?
Only when the uploader sent YouTube a 4K file. Open the video on YouTube, click the settings gear in the player and look under Quality: if 2160p is listed, the 4K stream exists. The 4K option in B-ROLL is a ceiling, not an upscale, so a video uploaded at 1080p downloads at 1080p whichever cap you pick.
Why is my 1080p file blurry?
A blurry 1080p file usually has a low bitrate, not a wrong resolution. YouTube re-encodes every upload, so the 1080p stream you download carries far less data than the creator's original file, and a soft or heavily compressed upload stays soft. Compare the Real bitrate B-ROLL shows on the card with the figures in what bitrate YouTube streams at 1080p and 4K.
Sources
- yt-dlp README on GitHub: format selection github.com
- yt-dlp wiki: EJS (JavaScript runtime for YouTube) github.com
- About FFmpeg ffmpeg.org
