Raspberry Pi OS 64-bit Sees Improved 1080P YouTube Performance

(Image credit: Raspberry Pi)

Since the Raspberry Pi arrived in 2012 there has been a 32-bit Raspberry Pi OS, formerly Raspbian as the default operating system. The Raspberry Pi 3 introduced the first 64-bit capable CPU but the OS remained 32-bit. That remained true until late May 2020 which saw a beta image release for Raspberry Pi OS 64-bit released to the public. The 64-bit OS works with Raspberry Pi 2 (v1.2 only which has the same CPU as the Pi 3), 3 and 4, can be downloaded from the Raspberry Pi forums

Beta testing is ongoing but one of the latest updates goes some way to addressing choppy YouTube 1080P video playback in Chromium. YouTuber leepspvideo has created a video showing the improvement, which seems to work better with some videos than others.

To update Chromium along with other updates and fixes for Raspberry Pi OS 64-bit, open a terminal and enter this command.

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

If you have Raspberry Pi OS 32-bit or 64-bit then you can stream YouTube and Netflix on your Raspberry Pi via a modified version of Chromium which you can  install Chromium (Media Edition)  via our handy guide.

Keep an eye on the Raspberry Pi GitHub for the latest issues and updates. 

Les Pounder

Les Pounder is an associate editor at Tom's Hardware. He is a creative technologist and for seven years has created projects to educate and inspire minds both young and old. He has worked with the Raspberry Pi Foundation to write and deliver their teacher training program "Picademy".