It was February when we first talked about the 1080p Premium functionality for YouTube users. As we said at that time, it is a feature that concerns everyone, but it will not affect Free users who do not purchase the YouTube Premium subscription. Today, we have news that the feature is in rollouts on Windows 11. Let's see how it works.
The enhanced streaming experience of YouTube 1080p Premium comes to Windows 11
YouTube is taking its streaming experience to a new level on Windows 11. The “1080p Premium” feature, previously reserved for mobile users, is now being tested for desktops. This innovation promises to improve the clarity of high-definition video through an increase in bitrate. Recently, we found out that YouTube has introduced the “1080p Premium” option for viewed videos on Microsoft Edge and Google on Windows 11. However, it appears that the feature is not yet operational on desktops. Although the account was already premium, a pop-up message on YouTube.com invited us to subscribe to the premium membership.
YouTube is no stranger to desktop experiments. In the past, it made significant interface changes, such as moving the comments section to the top right. This month's update appears to be a attempt to further improve the video quality with the new “1080p Premium” tier.
A member of the team of sYouTube support has confirmed that the feature has been tested with a select group of desktop users last month and later expanded to more desktops, Android phones, and Android TVs. The “1080p Enhanced Bitrate” option is only available for videos with exactly 1080p resolution. This means that it will not be available either for lower resolution videos (720p and below) nor superior (then 4K).
For those unfamiliar with the concept, a 1080p video it may not offer the best quality if its bitrate is low. A low bitrate can lead to low quality video, even at higher resolutions like 4K. A higher bitrate, on the other hand, offers greater video depth. That's why 4K video streamed to your phone may seem lower quality than it does on a desktop. Some users have complained about a reduction in video quality in 1080p, attributing it to a decrease in bitrate by Google. This move would have allowed the company to save on bandwidth costs. The new “1080p Premium” feature aims to solve this problem by offering a higher bitrate for 1080p videos for a monthly subscription.
After rolling out enhanced 1080p playback on mobile devices in April, Google now looks set to roll this feature out to desktops as well. At the moment, it is still unclear how much this feature will improve the streaming experience on the platform either when will it be available for all premium desktop users.
Through | Widowslatest
