YouTube ‘1080p Premium’ Enters Testing: Here’s What to Expect

Teejay Boris, Tech Times 24 February 2023, 12:02 am

YouTube's "1080p Premium" has begun its testing phase, giving subscribers a new enhanced quality option to watch videos in the Google-owned video-sharing service.

The new enhanced "1080p Premium" video quality option started appearing to mobile users of the paid service of YouTube.

(Photo : ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images)
The Google and YouTube logos are seen at the entrance to the Google offices in Los Angeles, California, November 21, 2019.

YouTube '1080p Premium'

As per a recent report by XDA Developers, the new video option on YouTube appeared on the mobile app of the video-sharing service.

When users choose the video quality of the content they are watching, a new option suddenly appears, the "1080p Premium."

The previous options, such as 240, 480p, and 720p, were still available, as well as the normal 1080p video quality. But in addition to these choices, Premium users could opt for an enhanced 1080p selection.

According to The Verge, the spokesperson of YouTube, Paul Pennington, confirmed that they are testing a new video quality option, which should give its users an enhanced experience.

The spokesperson says the new "1080p Premium" option is now available to "a small group of YouTube Premium subscribers."

And as such, if you are one of the subscribers of the subscription service of the video-sharing platform, you might get your hands on it as early as now.

But some might be wondering why YouTube added a new 1080p option.

What's New in '1080p Premium'

XDA Developers notes in its report that some users find the current 1080p selection somewhat lacking in quality. It turns out that YouTube has compressed it, so it is less sharp, which affects the overall quality.

(Photo : -/AFP via Getty Images)
This picture taken in Moscow on March 19, 2022 shows logos of Youtube social media on a smartphone screen.

But this time, the new "1080p Premium" brings an enhanced 1080p video experience.

Pennington says that the new video quality option brings "an enhanced bitrate version of 1080p which provides more information per pixel that results in the higher quality viewing experience."

The YouTube spokesperson further clarified that the older 1080p option will stay the same. The video service assures that it will not ruin the previous HD selection to force users to subscribe to the Premium tier.

He guaranteed that "there are no changes to the existing quality offerings for 1080p (HD) resolution" despite the arrival of the enhanced version.

The Verge reports that some users were worried that the video-sharing platform would end up nerfing the non-Premium option to give them more reason to start paying.

Although YouTube says that the new option provides a higher bitrate, it has yet to disclose the average range that it would offer.

However, The Verge highlights that the Premium option offers up to 50 percent more bitrate right off the bat.

With this, users would no longer have to opt for 4K streaming to get better bitrate output. But for now, it is only available to some YouTube Premium subscribers.