Why is my recording 1080p and not 4K?

A recording can come out in 1080p instead of 4K for a few reasons.

• The show is not set to 4K. 4K recording is off by default and is a paid, beta feature. Enable it in Show Settings. The host or a producer can also set it for a single session from the settings menu.
• The camera tops out at 1080p. Each camera records the best it can up to the show's limit, so a 1080p camera records 1080p even in a 4K session. Guests can check their own camera's resolution in the camera menu, and hosts or producers can see what every camera is delivering in the Participants panel.
• Someone set that person to 1080p. Any participant can drop themselves to 1080p from the camera menu, and the host or a producer can set a participant to 1080p from the Participants panel.
• The computer could not sustain 4K. If a machine struggles during a take, a pop-up recommends stopping the take and restarting it in 1080p. Nothing changes automatically while the take is running. See If a computer can't keep up recording 4K.

Some cameras advertise 4K but cannot hold it steadily in practice. SureTake attempts to flag known problem cameras in the camera picker before you record. For what your setup needs, see Technical requirements.