YouTube is giving Premium subscribers higher-quality video than everybody else

YouTube’s introducing an “enhanced” 1080p HD video high quality for Premium subscribers — but it surely’s solely obtainable on iOS for now, with the choice coming to internet quickly. In accordance to YouTube, the brand new 1080p Premium choice is “an enhanced bitrate model of 1080p” that’s presupposed to make issues look crisper, notably with movies heavy on element and movement.

If this all sounds acquainted, it’s as a result of YouTube began testing this characteristic earlier this 12 months and had some frightened that the corporate would nerf the present 1080p choice for nonsubscribers. Luckily, the usual 1080p choice isn’t going wherever, not even for Premium members.

You’ll nonetheless get to make use of the usual 1080p choice on movies (even those with 1080p Premium). Not all movies may have the 1080p Premium choice, both, as YouTube says you gained’t see it on movies uploaded at resolutions increased or decrease than 1080p, Shorts, or in livestreams.

Though I don’t have YouTube Premium, I’m curious to understand how massive of a distinction there actually is between 1080p and 1080p Premium. As my former colleague Mitchell Clark identified on the time of the check, a whole lot of issues go into making movies look good, however an enhanced bitrate ought to, in idea, make them look higher, because it stuffs extra data per pixel.

Together with this perk, YouTube revealed a handful of different options coming to Premium, together with the power for customers on iOS to observe movies with family and friends members utilizing FaceTime by way of SharePlay. The platform already provides an identical characteristic on Android, because it lets subscribers use Google Meet to co-watch movies with different folks, whether or not they pay for Premium or not.

There’s additionally a useful new Premium characteristic that permits you to decide up the place you left off on movies throughout Android, iOS, and the platform’s desktop web site. This appears particularly useful if you happen to’re watching one thing in your cellphone and need to blow it up on an even bigger display, like your laptop computer. Nevertheless it additionally simply sounds good to have the ability to proceed watching one thing on the go if you happen to began watching it in your pc, and vice versa.

Moreover, YouTube’s increasing its Premium queuing characteristic to telephones and tablets, which helps you to create an inventory of movies that you simply need to watch subsequent. It’s additionally rolling out the good downloads characteristic it began testing final 12 months. This robotically provides beneficial movies to your library when you’re related to Wi-Fi, permitting you to view them if you’re offline. Whereas this sounds useful if you’re on a airplane or touring with no service and neglect to obtain movies upfront, it looks as if it may very well be a little bit of a storage hog if you happen to don’t disable it.