YouTube compresses the shit out of 1080p content. Any video that has a lot of movement will look like trash at 1080p. Even if you’re on a lower resolution monitor, the higher bit rate of higher resolution videos will look better. It’s all very stupid on our end, but I assume it saves them a ton on bandwidth.

I’m not advocating for this, but I could see it effectively ending phone scams that often prey on the elderly.