Apple TV+ has highest bitrate of 4k streaming services

Streaming service Apple TV+ offers 4k videos with a higher bitrate than competitors. FlatpanelsHD concludes that after its own tests. Apple’s own series See has an average bitrate of 29Mbit/s with a peak of 41Mbit/s.

Rasmus Larsen, the founder of FlatpanelsHD, ran the tests and concluded that the bitrate is highest at See. In the documentary The Elephant Queen, the bitrate is on average 26Mbit/s and in the Dickinsons series it is on average 17.9Mbit/s. In all cases, it concerns 4k videos with a frame rate of 24 fps.

Netflix offers its 4k streams with a bitrate of up to 16Mbit/s and Amazon Prime Video is also comparable according to user experiences. According to Larsen, the bitrate that Apple uses is one and a half to twice as high as what is common for Blu-rays, but about half the bitrate of an UHD Blu-ray.

Apple TV+ has been available since the beginning of this month. The streaming service costs five euros per month and there is a free trial of seven days. Buyers of a new iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, iPod touch or Mac get one year of free access.

Photo: FlatpanelsHD