YouTube Premium Tests high-Quality Audio and Faster Playback Options.
YouTube Premium Introduces High-Quality Audio
YouTube announced on Wednesday that it is introducing new experimental features for Premium users. These include improved high-quality audio, a faster playback speed option for mobile devices, and a “jump ahead” feature on the web that allows viewers to skip directly to the most engaging parts of a video.
YouTube often adds new tools for testing, which you can find at youtube.com/new. One of the latest updates lets you turn on a feature to listen to music videos with high-quality audio, up to 256kbps. This improves the audio experience.
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It’s worth noting that YouTube Music already provides this quality for audio playback when the settings are adjusted to High in the playback menu.
These updates aim to improve user satisfaction and provide Premium members exclusive benefits, encouraging more people to explore what the subscription offers.
On mobile devices, the picture-in-picture feature is helpful if you need to quickly reply to a text, check an email, or do something else while a video keeps playing in the corner of your screen. A new test now lets iOS users watch YouTube Shorts in picture-in-picture mode.
Additionally, YouTube has introduced smart downloads for Shorts on iOS. When you enable this feature, YouTube will automatically download videos you think you’ll enjoy whenever you have a strong internet connection. This allows you to watch them offline later, even without internet access. These features were already available on Android.
For those who enjoy faster playback speeds, YouTube now allows video viewing at up to 4x speed on mobile devices. Previously, the maximum playback speed users could choose was 2x.
Last year, YouTube launched the “Jump Ahead” feature on mobile, allowing users to skip to the most interesting video parts directly. This is determined using YouTube’s algorithm, which relies on machine learning and user feedback. This feature is being rolled out for Premium users on the web.
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Google is also expanding two AI-based features related to YouTube. The “Ask Music” feature for YouTube Music is now available in the U.K. and Ireland. With this feature, users can request things like “upbeat workout tracks” or “relaxing jazz,” the app will create a custom radio station based on the request. Other platforms like Spotify and Amazon Music are experimenting with similar tools.
In 2023, YouTube began testing a conversational AI feature that lets users ask questions about a video or get recommendations. The company has announced that this feature will soon be available to iOS users.