Xbox One will support 4K output resolution and 3D

The next-gen Xbox One will include support for ultra high-resolution 4K as well as 3D, Microsoft's Larry Hryb revealed in a Yahoo chat session yesterday.

"Xbox One supports both 3-D and 4K," Hryb said in response to a question about the console including these features.

Following the Xbox One's unveiling on Tuesday, Microsoft's Yusuf Mehdi told Forbes the console's video and interface will work with HDTVs.

"The video and interface portions [will work with next-gen TVs], absolutely," he said. "Games developed for 1080p will run at 1080p, obviously."

Xbox One supports both 3D and 4K, including 4K for Blu-ray

Mehdi also revealed the console will support 4K for Blu-ray at launch, with the possibility of games and other content being available at 4K in the future if they are rendered at that resolution.

"There's no hardware restriction there at all," he said.

4K, also known as Ultra HD, refers to a display resolution approximately four times the resolution of 1080p displays. Several companies, such as Sony and LG, have started to manufacture TVs with the emerging standard, though the price point can begin at tens of thousands of dollars here in the technology's early days.

File size may be another technological hurdle to 4K adoption: Sony said in February that 4K videos could require downloads over 100 GB. Neil Hunt, Netflix's chief product officer, told The Verge earlier this year that the streaming video service expects to offer 4K video content "within a year or two."

After revealing the PlayStation 4 in February, Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida told Polygon the company's next-generation console would support 4K output, but not for playing games.

"The official answer is that the PS4 supports 4K output but for personal contents, like photos or videos. Not games," Yoshida said. "PS4 games do not work on 4K."

Update: A representative from Microsoft confirmed to Polygon that Xbox One games will support both native 4K resolution and upscaling to 4K.