With competitors like Hulu and Vimeo having higher quality videos, why shouldn’t the #2 most trafficked web site in the world have it too?  I noticed that in a few of the videos on the homepage, there is now an option to view videos in a higher quality.  Below are some screen shots.

Here’s a YouTube video in low quality:

And now here’s a YouTube video in higher quality:

By looking at the lower quality video, it is easier to see how much more pixelated the video is.  Will all of the newly uploaded videos have a higher quality option on YouTube now? Apparently, YouTube is making a major announcement tomorrow so we’ll just have to wait and see.

Update: The YouTube Blog announced that there are now more APIs to use.