I’m always searching Google to find the code for setting a YouTube link to the HQ (High Quality) or HD (High Definition) version of a video.  Using this code on your URL hyperlinks means that you don’t have to remind your friends, “don’t forget to click the HQ or HD button” to see the video in the best quality possible.

The Question: How do I link (URL) directly to the HQ or HD version of a YouTube video instead of the normal version?

So here’s how to use the URL extension format codes to play videos on YouTube with HD or HQ capabilities without having to click the HD HQ video player button once your browser has lauched the video on YouTube.  Remember that HQ and HD options are based upon the original upload.  So if you are publishing to YouTube and want your own videos to be optimized for a high definition playback, read the YouTube guidelines for optimizing your uploads.

The Answer: Add &fmt=22 or &fmt=18 to the end of the normal YouTube video URL when linking

You can link (hyperlink via the video URL) to any public YouTube video. The video link is located in the URL field just right or below the video when played on YouTube. If you are viewing a YouTube video on any site other than YouTube, just click the video play region (not the ad bar) and you will be taken to YouTube to resume playing the video.

Here’s a regular link to a YouTube video (The link provided be default in the above image):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAE0HJgsEc8

Here’s the HQ version of the URL link – added &fmt=22
resolution – 1280×720 (720p), H.264 video @ 1024Kbps

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAE0HJgsEc8&fmt=22

More HQ YouTube Format Codes

Here are some additional format codes to force the format view when linking to have the desired format play from your link to a video.

From SQUIDOO How-To:

&fmt=6 increases the resolution from 320×240 to 448×336, Flash 7 video @ 900Kbps; audio @ 44.1KHz 96Kbps Mono CBR. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfWXRybZS4A&fmt=6

&fmt=18 increases the resolution to 480×360, H.264 video @ 512Kbps; audio @ 44.1KHz 128Kbps Stereo. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfWXRybZS4A&fmt=18

&fmt=22 increases the resolution to 1280×720 (720p), H.264 video @ 1024Kbps; audio @ 44.1KHz 232Kbps Stereo. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfWXRybZS4A&fmt=22

via How-To YouTube High Definition.

More about High Quality vs. High Definition

Sometimes “high quality” is HD H.264 in stereo (“&fmt=22″), or smaller (480×360, 4:3 frame aspect ratio) in H.264 stereo (“&fmt=18″) or H.263 mono (“&fmt=06″). Format 22 is not always 1280×720 — the tag is ignored if there’s no HD movie uploaded, as with David Kalb vs LeBron James – Horse (HIGH QUALITY), where format 22 seems like format 06. via http://aeportal.blogspot.com/2008/11/youtube-quality-confusion.html

How to Embed HQ / HD into your blog post

The obvious next question is how to embed the HD and HQ version of the video directly into your blog post.  Just below the location on YouTube where you copied the URL link you’ll also find the embed code.  If you want to embed the video directly into your blog post or web article, you’ll want to make sure you switch to the HTML view / entry on your CMS (Content Management System) or blog admin.

Select the width that will maximize the video size based on the width of the body of your blog post.

Here’s the same video we used URL link examples above but embedded into this blog post.

Again, you will want to make sure that you’ve optimized the video you upload if this will be your own video.  Directly from YouTube’s video optimization help page:

How to best upload widescreen videos

Originals - The less a video is re-encoded prior to uploading, the better the resulting YouTube video quality. We encourage you to upload your videos as close to the original source format as possible, with a minimum of intermediate re-encoding steps. Each re-encoding can generally degrade the quality of your video and create some specific problems too, which we’ll address below.

Aspect Ratio - The aspect ratio of the original source video should always be maintained when it’s uploaded: Uploaded videos should never include letterboxing or pillarboxing bars.

The YouTube player automatically adds black bars so that videos are displayed correctly without cropping or stretching, whatever the size of the video or the player. For example, the player will automatically add vertical bars (pillarboxing) to 4:3 videos in the new 16:9 widescreen player size. If the player is re-sized (when embedded on another website for example) the same process takes place, so that 16:9 videos are letterboxed (black bars top and bottom) when the player is sized to 4:3, for example. Similarly, anamorphic videos will be automatically letterboxed when shown in either 16:9 or 4:3 sized players. The player can only do this if the native aspect ratio of the video is maintained.

A quick tutorial on how to embed by YouTube user YTSecretWeapon

If High Definition is available for a video, YouTube is now presenting a checkbox to embed the video in HD instead of just displaying a message during the initial play period advising viewers that they may g to YouTube for a HD version.

Here’s an Example of HD off and on. To see the full capabilities of this video on YouTube at 835×505 in High Definition click here

I have embedded the video below in both formats.

MATT Video – Not HD

http://www.youtube.com/v/zlfKdbWwruY&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0×999999

MATT Video – In HD (High Definition Version)
Embed Contains &hd=1

http://www.youtube.com/v/zlfKdbWwruY&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0×999999&hd=1

I have found the &hd=1 extension to work on all HD videos to force the High Definition version regardless of the last played settings.  So just add &hd=1 to the URL provided in the YouTube subscribe and more info dialog box.

Please Share this HD Link Tip and Comment Below

Do you have any questions or ideas about HQ and HD YouTube video URLs and Embeds?

If you have questions about how to link to higher quality formated videos please post below.  Have you found other ideas, hacks, tricks, or tips you can share?  If this post helped you, please comment and share.  Iwill invite experts to comment if I can’t answer any questions below.