What you need to know
- YouTube has new experimental features for its Premium tier users.
- The prominent ones include the ability to watch a YouTube video at 4x speed.
- Jump ahead is another nifty feature in the works, which should help users jump to their favorite content faster.
YouTube has great perks for users who subscribe to its Premium tier subscription. Users can avoid ads, use YouTube Music, and much more. Other than the already available ones, the company allows users to test some new upcoming or experimental features, and the video streaming platform already has a bunch of them.
YouTube currently allows users to watch content at speeds ranging from 0.25x, 0.5x to 1.75x and 2x. It adds convenience to users who want to finish the video soon or take it slow per their requirements and it is especially beneficial when listening to podcasts, for example.
However, the streaming giant’s latest experimental feature now allows users to adjust speeds for up to 4x. The fine-tuning of speeds is currently available for mobile handsets like Android phones and iOS devices, and not on the web just yet.
Needless to say, the experimental feature is only for YouTube Premium users. It is still unclear how exactly the 4x speeds would be useful while watching a video, and the only reason we think of is perhaps to finish the video or skip to the preferred part 2x faster than the currently available speeds. The aforementioned mobile handset users can use this experimental feature until February 26.
When it comes to skipping content, Jump Ahead is another interesting experimental feature that “enables viewers to get to the content they care about faster.” It is a new floating button to get to your favorite content even faster and is now available on the web. However, the clock’s already ticking on this feature because the ability to experiment with this feature for YouTube Premium users is ending on February 5.
The other notable experimental features that are available include a high-quality audio feature, which lets users listen to the best quality audio for the eligible music videos on the platform. The high-quality audio here translates to 256kbps (via The Verge) and is available for users on iOS and Android until February 22.
Further, iOS users can experience YouTube Shorts video in picture-in-picture mode when switching between apps just like regular YouTube video – and it is for YouTube Premium users only. Similarly, again on iOS, users can enable “Smart downloads” for YouTube Shorts, which allows them to automatically download shorts for offline viewing.
All mentioned experimental features for YouTube Premium users will perhaps add a better viewing experience than the service already offered at the moment. It still needs to be determined which of these will roll out officially in the coming weeks or months.