Subscribers of streaming services who want to enjoy their content at the highest quality possible will probably want to skip the PC, as that platform is getting the shaft in regard to bitrate.
This is according to a new report shared by online video optimization and analytics company Conviva, which includes a section discussing the quality of streaming content on various devices. The PC is dead last, with an average bitrate of just 2.95 Mbps versus alternatives such as Smart TVs, which boast the highest average bitrate of 8.80 Mbps.
“Picture quality […] improved across the board with gaming consoles up the most at 16 percent but at 7.89 Mbps bitrate, they came in second to smart TVs which averaged 8.80 Mbps,” the relevant section reads before going into how poorly the PC fared in contrast.
“Desktop made the least gains, up just 3 percent, and had the worst picture quality of any device at 2.95 Mbps.”
An infographic included in Conviva’s report illustrates how PC compares to other streaming devices, such as tablets and mobile phones:
As noted in FlatPanelsHD’s coverage, the reason that Netflix, Disney+, and other major streaming services are reducing bitrates for the PC likely has to do with piracy. Recording video on the platform is, after all, a trivial process.
Source: Conviva (via FlatPanelsHD)