2.4M views · Jun 9, 2010 · 2:51 · 0 HN recommenders · 5 mentions · discussed 2018–2023
A condensed rendition of a project that re-uploaded one video to YouTube 1000 times, showing the accumulating compression artifacts. It pays homage to Alvin Lucier's I Am Sitting in a Room.
Why Hacker News points people here: Cited as a vivid demonstration of generation loss from repeated lossy re-encoding.
“Every time you render and recompress you're losing information, it's lossy compression after all.”HN comment, 2023
“someone uploaded and ripped a YouTube video 1000 times and then edited the natural degradation of the compression”
Video re-uploaded 1000 times showing compression degradation.
I remember back in like 2010, someone uploaded and ripped a YouTube video 1000 times and then edited the natural degradation of the compression. Went from perfectly watchable video to horrible static-y mess. Here it is! this video
“this is the first video that did this, and it's only 3 minutes total”
Short original version of the repeated-upload degradation experiment.
If you don't have 15 minutes to waste on exposition, this is the first video that did this, and it's only 3 minutes total: this video
“uploading a video 1000 times to YouTube.”
Modern repeat of the lossy-degradation experiment with video and audio codecs.
The experiment has also been brought to the 21st century and its video and audio codecs: this video - uploading a video 1000 times to YouTube.
“Every time you render and recompress you're losing information, it's lossy compression after all.”
Illustrates how repeated lossy re-encoding amplifies artifacts.
You're not understanding how lossy compression encoders work. Try recompressing a JPEG a few dozen times. Or take an MP3 and export it from Audacity, open the export, export as MP3 again a dozen times and see what it sounds like. All those artifacts keep getting amplified every time you re-encode until it's practically just the artifacts. Every time you render and recompress you're losing information, it's lossy compression after all. this video
“A take on it from 2010 but with YouTube compression”
YouTube-compression take on the repeated-degradation concept from 2010.
A take on it from 2010 but with YouTube compression: this video And MKBHD did a take on it in 2019 again with YouTube compression: link
