The latest update from YouTube offers desktop viewers an enhanced 1080p viewing experience with improved video quality and less compression.
For over a decade, the video streaming colossus YouTube has set the 1080p resolution as a benchmark for crystal-clear viewing. This high-definition milestone, unveiled in 2009, harkens back to a time when viewers had no choice but to squint through pixelated 480p – and let’s not even mention the fuzzy days of 360p.
This development came into the spotlight in February when an observant Reddit community member spotted the feature on select videos. Come April, the social platform confirmed its testing phase on iOS devices. Fast forward to now, desktop users from all corners can access this feature as it’s being rolled out globally.
Tagged as ‘1080p Premium’, this new level of resolution provides a noticeably enhanced viewing experience. It yields sharper imagery and is particularly significant in videos with dynamic scenes or low-light conditions.
Yet, there’s a catch. To indulge in the ‘1080p Premium’ feature, viewers are required to sign up for YouTube Premium. At $13.99 per month, the price seems steep, but it unlocks the gateway to superior image quality.
Offering upscaled 1080p visuals is YouTube’s latest bid to allure more subscribers to its YouTube Premium service. This strategy follows the company’s brief attempt to reserve 4K resolution as a premium-only feature, which faced swift backlash from the community and led to a quick retraction of the policy.
YouTube continues to weigh its options for boosting Premium subscriptions, without turning away its vast free viewership. Out of the whopping 2.86 billion estimated total users, a modest slice of 80 million have opted into the paid subscription.
Currently, ‘1080p Premium’ is only available for select videos, but widespread availability is anticipated as YouTube fine-tunes and expands the service. The update is poised to reach video game consoles and Chromecast devices as well.
