Affiliate links on Android Authority may earn us a commission. Learn more.
YouTube Premium users can now see 'extra crisp' videos compared to others
- YouTube Premium is getting five new features.
- The most significant update is a new enhanced video quality option limited to Premium subscribers.
- Other new Premium features include the ability to queue content on mobile, auto download content for offline viewing, and more.
YouTube has announced several new features for its Premium subscribers, the most significant being enhanced video quality. Starting on iOS and coming to the web soon, YouTube Premium users will experience “extra crisp and clear” videos. The higher video quality will be more apparent in videos with a lot of detail and motion.
How is this possible? According to YouTube’s blog post announcing the latest features, the streamer is launching an enhanced bitrate version of 1080p HD video quality. A higher bitrate generally means better video quality, but it also requires more bandwidth because of more data transmission per second.
Google is probably betting that YouTube Premium subscribers have a fast enough internet connection to enjoy the new Enhanced Bitrate option in the video resolution settings.
More useful YouTube Premium features
Besides better video quality, YouTube Premium subscribers can now queue up content on their phones and tablets. The feature will help you select the videos you want to watch next.
Android, iOS, and web YouTube Premium subscribers will also be able to continue watching videos across devices. Say you started a YouTube video on your home computer and want to continue watching it on your phone while commuting to work. This new feature will let you start the video from wherever you previously left off when you switch devices.
Elsewhere, YouTube will now automatically download recommended videos for offline viewing if you are a Premium subscriber and have the Smart Downloads feature enabled. This way, you will have to worry about having nothing to watch when you board a flight or find yourself unexpectedly in a no internet zone.
Premium subscribers can even host Google Meet sessions where all attendees can watch YouTube videos together, regardless of whether they are Premium or free users. The feature is called Meet Live Sharing and is available on Android devices. Google will also soon roll it out for FaceTime users on iOS.