# Video Quality Limits by Subscription Tier | Vodlix **Source:** https://vodlix.com/features/quality-limiter **Summary:** Cap the resolution each plan can reach so HD and 4K become upgrade reasons, while the player still adapts freely below the ceiling so nobody buffers. **Publisher:** Vodlix --- ## Quality Limiter Cap the resolution a plan can reach, so ultra high definition becomes a reason to upgrade rather than something everybody gets by default. - **Feature Plan:** 2 - core-platform ## Picture Quality Is the Easiest Thing to Sell Setting a ceiling on what each plan can reach turns your encoding ladder into a pricing structure. The player still adapts freely underneath the cap, so nobody buffers because of it. ### Somebody Who Just Bought a Television Will Pay You for It Of all the ways to separate one subscription tier from another, picture quality is the one viewers grasp without any explanation. Nobody needs a comparison table to understand why the expensive plan looks better on the big screen in the living room, and crucially, the people who care are exactly the people willing to pay. A viewer who has just spent a considerable amount on a television has already demonstrated that image quality matters to them. Gating quality is not a punishment aimed at cheaper subscribers, most of whom watch on a phone where the difference is invisible. It is a way of charging more to the people for whom the difference is the point. #### A ceiling, not a fixed setting The plan sets the maximum a viewer can reach. Underneath it the player still chooses freely based on the connection, so a cap never causes buffering. #### A reason to move up Quality is the tier difference people understand fastest, which makes it the one most likely to produce an upgrade without a campaign behind it. #### And it lowers your bill A capped tier serves smaller files. Bandwidth is a real cost, so the pricing lever and the cost lever happen to point the same way. ### A Cap Is Not the Same as Choosing a Resolution This distinction is worth being precise about, because getting it wrong produces exactly the buffering that adaptive streaming exists to prevent. A limit sets the highest rendition a viewer is allowed to receive. It does not pin them there. Somebody on a plan capped at 1080p who is on a poor connection still drops to 480p and back up again, because the player is choosing freely within everything at or below the ceiling. If a cap instead forced a fixed resolution, every viewer on a weak connection would stall, and you would have built a worse experience for the people paying you less rather than a differently priced one. The mechanism underneath is described under [adaptive bitrate streaming](/features/adaptive-bitrate-streaming), and the renditions available to be capped under [video encoding settings](/features/video-encoding-settings). ### Say What the Tier Gives Them Quality tiering goes wrong in exactly one way, which is when a viewer finds out about the limit by noticing rather than by being told. Somebody who bought a plan believing they were getting the best picture and later discovers a ceiling feels misled, and they are right to. State it on the plan, in the words people use rather than in resolutions alone, since a meaningful share of your audience does not know what 2160p means but does know what 4K on their television is called. The plans themselves are defined under [packages and subscriptions](/features/packages-subscriptions), and how somebody moves between them under [upgrade and downgrade](/features/upgrade-downgrade). Whether the quality difference is actually visible to a given viewer depends on their screen, which is worth remembering before pricing it aggressively. ### Leave the Viewer a Control of Their Own A ceiling set by their plan and a preference set by the viewer are different things and both should exist. Somebody on a capped mobile data plan may want to watch below their entitlement all evening, and the quality control in the player lets them, which costs you nothing and saves them money they will thank you for indirectly by not cancelling. The two settings compose sensibly, since the viewer can choose anything at or below their ceiling. What they cannot do is exceed it, which is the whole point. That control sits alongside playback speed and subtitles in the [video player](/features/customizable-video-player), and what people actually received rather than what they were entitled to shows up in [reports and analytics](/features/reports-and-analytics). **Q: What does a quality limit actually do?** It sets the highest rendition a viewer on that plan can receive. Below the ceiling the player still adapts freely to the connection, so a cap changes the maximum rather than pinning somebody to one resolution. **Q: Will capping quality cause buffering?** No, as long as it is a ceiling rather than a fixed setting. Somebody capped at 1080p on a weak connection still drops to 480p and recovers. Forcing a fixed resolution would cause stalling, which is exactly what adaptive delivery exists to avoid. **Q: Why is quality a good way to separate tiers?** Because viewers understand it without explanation, and the people who care are the people willing to pay. Somebody who just bought a large television has already shown that picture quality matters to them. **Q: Does capping quality save me money?** Yes, a capped tier serves smaller files and bandwidth is a real cost. It is one of the few decisions where the pricing lever and the cost lever point the same way, which is part of why it is such a common tiering choice. **Q: Should I tell subscribers about the limit?** Yes, clearly and on the plan itself. This only goes wrong when somebody discovers the ceiling by noticing rather than by being told, and at that point they feel misled whether or not the price was fair. **Q: Can viewers still choose a lower quality themselves?** Yes. The plan sets the ceiling and the viewer can pick anything at or below it, which matters for people on metered connections. What they cannot do is exceed their entitlement. **Q: What if I have not encoded a high resolution at all?** Then there is nothing to gate, because a cap can only limit renditions that exist. Quality tiering and your encoding ladder are the same decision approached from two directions, and it is worth planning them together. **Q: Will viewers notice the difference?** On a large television, yes. On a phone, frequently not, which is worth remembering before pricing the difference aggressively. The tier is most persuasive to the part of your audience watching on the biggest screen.