That’s quite a presumption.
Not everyone does it, and clearly even those who do have expectations
that differ from you.
I’ve reached the end of my interest here.
I never presume to speak for the Qubes team. When I comment in the Forum or in the mailing lists I speak for myself.Can you, please, open on your old Thinkpad this video fullscreen at 1080p60 in Firefox:
I know that the display of old thinkpad is not even 1080p, but OK.
It’s an outdated meaning, at least for Youtube. Youtube stopped considering 720p as HD several years ago, and remove HD label for these resolution. You can check it yourself 
Time goes by, we cannot consider something like 720p still being “high” while it is actually very low compared to current state of video art with 4K+. If we do not change terms than we should still call 320p a “Standard Quality” (SD), while nowadays it is obviously not right, 320p is a low-quality garbage, and “Standard” is more close to 1080p.
Can you, please, open on your old Thinkpad this video fullscreen at 1080p60 in Firefox:
No, nobody cares about frame drops while watching a YouTube Video. I’m not a Fortnite gamer, LOL. So, like I said, I see no problem, no lag while watching YouTube videos on my ThinkPad…
It’s an outdated meaning, at least for Youtube. Youtube stopped considering 720p as HD several years ago, and remove HD label for these resolution.
That’s completely false. No one can change facts. In fact, Google/YouTube itself still considers 720p as an HD resolution.
Recommended resolution & aspect ratios
For the default 16:9 aspect ratio, encode at these resolutions:
- 4320p (8k): 7680x4320
- 2160p (4K): 3840x2160
- 1440p (2k): 2560x1440
- 1080p (HD): 1920x1080
- 720p (HD): 1280x720
- 480p (SD): 854x480
- 360p (SD): 640x360
- 240p (SD): 426x240
Source: Google itself
Time goes by, we cannot consider something like 720p still being “high” while it is actually very low compared to current state of video art with 4K+.
Why not?! In networking, FastEthernet is called “fast” even if it’s speed is 10 times slower than GigabitEthernet. Although FastEthernet is significantly slower than GigabitEthernet, with a maximum data transfer rate of 100 megabits per second (Mbps) compared to 1000 Mbps for GigabitEthernet, it is still considered “fast” in the context of networking.
What are you trying to prove here?! 
So, you suddenly realized that your old Thinkpad is not able to play YouTube videos at 1080p@60 without frame drops, not even speaking about smoothness.
And instead of posting results decided to say that no one cares about frame drops. OK, I see, smart. The next step is to say that no one cares for YouTube videos at all. Because you have right to decide for everyone what they need.
Some outdated FAQ question on google domain means nothing compared to millions of videos on YouTube itself.
Check yourself: open any YouTube video, and change quality to 720p and check yourself that HD label disappears. It will prove you that 1080p is the lowest possible HD-resolution nowadays on YouTube as I said.
So, you suddenly realized that your old Thinkpad is not able to play YouTube videos at 1080p
You’re making assumptions without evidence. 
“What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence.” 
I can watch 1080p YouTube Videos on my x200 ThinkPad smoothly and without any lags. That what’s the most important thing for me. I don’t use Qubes Os as a Benchmark platform…
Because you have right to decide for everyone what they need.
Says the one who literally said, " watching video is quite the opposite - everybody does it".
Well, standards can’t be changed by Youtube. The 720p is one of the defined resolution thresholds for video content. It doesn’t matter if you like it or not
Some outdated FAQ question on google domain means nothing compared to millions of videos on YouTube itself.
Stop trolling you’re not even funny, the Google page was updated 3 years after that Youtube removed the HD label for 720p on their videos.
You cut the sentence, removing the main part about without frame drops and smoothness. I have to repeat it for you:
Is it not true?
If not, can you provide the results of proposed tests on 1080p@60 video above?
We aren’t on Reddit.
It’s natural to want to feel right, but it’s important to recognize that being right isn’t always the most important thing. Instead of focusing on being right, try to focus on understanding the perspectives of others and engaging in productive discussions.
If you’re dealing with a specific issue or problem, it’s okay to raise your problem and ask for help there, but that does not mean that everyone is facing the same problem.
What you don’t understand when me and other users say that we have no performance issues when watching YouTube videos even on old hardware like my x200 ThinkPad ?
Simple question, simple answer.
Because I (and even people in this topic) have technical issues on 10 times faster CPUs, so, it’s obvious you also have those.
You are just OK with these technical problems, which is completely different from not having them. It’s like a gamer that plays game at 4fps and says that “my old PC runs this game flawlessly”.
As you said:
It is simply not true, there are people who value both lack of frame drops and smoothness of playback, just re-read the thread.
And it is almost impossible to achieve it on Qubes OS R4 even for ordinary 1080p@60, that is a disadvantage compared to GNU/Linux. That’s my point and I see no other tech proofs otherwise.
Everything was said, you do not want to make actual test to provide actual numbers instead of “I have no issues”. So, I got that you “have no technical issues with YouTube” because “nobody cares if video frames are dropped” during video playback, OK.
Keep trolling…
Just to add to this thread, even on my desktop pc (which run semi-modern hardware) I cannot watch videos reliable at 1440p+ or even 720p if they’re @ 60fps, choppiness just make it unbearable. However I know this is a known issue with Qubes due to how VMs doesn’t have video acceleration, so I have to use another pc without qubes for tasks that require it.
Or to put it more plainly: Qubes wasn’t intended to play hi-res videos at sixty frames per second. (And I would suspect that frame rate–over twice the standard–is the real issue.) That’s not what it’s about.
Yeah, exactly 
@Nulaxz
Qubes OS is primarily designed for security and isolation purposes, and not for high-performance media playback. While it is possible to play videos on Qubes OS, it is not primaly optimized for high-resolution or high-frame-rate content.
Is that a problem for me? No. Can I watch YouTube videos without having to worries about FPS? Yes.
I’ve been daily driving Qubes for at least 5 years and I believe that’s one of the best Os that I ever ran.
Some users think that the awesome security implementations in Qubes OS will not have any impact on performance, but that’s not the case. I also believe that the trade-off is well worth it.
Every person has unique needs and preferences when it comes to their computer and operating system. Some people prioritize security, while others prioritize performance or ease of use. Some people need their computer to run specific software or hardware, while others just need basic functionality.
Because of these differences, there is no one-size-fits-all operating system that will work perfectly for every user. What works well for one person may not work as well for someone else.
That’s why it’s important to choose an operating system that meets your individual needs and expectations. Whether you prioritize security, performance, ease of use, or something else entirely, there is likely an operating system out there that will work well for you. The key is to do your research, try out different systems if possible, and find the one that best meets your needs.
Note: When I need to perform some resource-hungry tasks like data analysis I’d switch to my Qubes Os desktop which has a powerful CPU (I9-12900K) and 64 GB of memory.
Thank you for your voice, another person who values smooth video playback.
When I updated my PC from 6-Gen Intel CPU to 11-Gen one (~ 2 times faster), the first thing I noticed that I was not expecting to - was the smoothness of the video on YouTube. In both cases frames were not dropped so I though that old CPU was doing playback good enough but the difference of smoothness was so drastic, that I understand how wrong I was with my previous estimation.
The point is that maybe all these video playback issues of Qubes OS are not due to some software limitation of xen, X11 or some other part of the system, but just simple CPU (single-core?) performance limitation for these tasks.
In that case we can hope that in 5-10 years Qubes OS will be able to play 1080p@60 because it will be achieved by CPU development progress even without developers’ effort for bringing hardware acceleration.
Thank you for posting this link. I like the idea
Great post!!
Anytime 
This has been my experience on my Qubes desktop computer as well. Except that even 720p 24fps fullscreen is choppy for me. Videos with little motion are fine. Any content where motion is important is not enjoyable to watch, so I stick to my other non-Qubes devices for videos.
I hope this is not considered a necro; fast glance at faq didn’t provide guidance on that.
@tanky0u thanks for the link to ytfzf!
Do you happen to know how one can “seek ahead” with ytfzf-launched videos (viewed in mpv)? Using the usual shortcuts (e.g. right arrow) stops video playback irrecoverably. Right now the only alternative if I want seeking seems to be to download the video and the use mpv on the local file.
Okay I’ve done some research and it seems to be a bug with mpv…I’ve also run into this bug while testing…not the best stability, but oh well, it’s still a cool program.
I didn’t notice this bug. I simply use the left-right, up-down arrow keys for seeking while streaming youtube video with ytfzf.
I have a gaming laptop with a 11th gen i5 and a nvda 3060. I have issues with choppiness on even 360p frame rate but weirdly only on firefox. I have tried from standalones, to appvms, to disposables. They all struggle with this…
With the exception of tor browser. For whatever reason, tor browser playback is smooth. Not as smooth as butter but 60 fps smooth at least. Another exception is brave browser. Its just as good.
Maybe there is something wrong with firefox itself.