YouTube/Google doesn't give a shit anymore. They will mangle your video and audio and serve users "enhanced" "improved" "upscaled" encodes without telling you.

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"YouTube secretly tested AI video enhancement without notifying creators" - Aug 25, 2025

https://arstechnica.com/google/2025/08/youtube-secretly-test...

"YouTube will let you opt out of AI upscaling on low-res videos" - Oct 29, 2025

https://www.theverge.com/news/808717/youtube-automatic-ai-up...

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Not only that, YouTube turned many old videos shot in portrait (from the 2010s and before!) into engagement-boosting "Shorts" crap which get horribly mangled in their own way.

"Notice a weird beauty filter on Shorts? YouTube says it's on purpose" - Aug 26, 2025

https://www.androidauthority.com/youtube-shorts-upscaling-ex...