YouTube Premium gets an upgrade: Faster playback speeds, better audio, jump ahead and more
YouTube is rolling out fresh features for its Premium subscribers, making the experience that bit more Premium.
YouTube delivers on its promises
Earlier this year, YouTube teased a few Premium upgrades were coming. Now, those new features are here. From high-quality audio to smarter ways to skip through videos, Premium users are getting a more enriched viewing experience.
What’s new for YouTube Premium subscribers?
Here’s what’s new:
- High-quality audio: Premium users can now enjoy 256kbps audio playback. That brings the enhanced listening experience of YouTube Music to the main YouTube app. The upgrade applies to official/premium music videos and Art Tracks on both Android and iOS.
- Faster playback speeds: Need to speed-watch a tutorial or skim through a podcast? Premium now offers playback speeds up to 4x that can be fine-tuned in precise 0.05 increments. You no longer need to go through youtube.com/new, as the feature is now fully live on Android, iOS, and the web.
- Jump ahead: This smart tool lets you skip to the most interesting parts of a video. Already available on Android, iOS, and web, it’s now rolling out to Premium users on Smart TVs and gaming consoles.
What about Shorts?
It’s not just long-form videos getting attention. Shorts are also leveling up for Premium users.
- Picture-in-Picture for Shorts: On iOS, you can now keep Shorts running in a mini vertical window while you scroll through other content on your device.
- Shorts Smart Downloads: Premium iOS users can now automatically get Shorts downloaded for offline viewing, without requiring any action from you. It works by downloading Shorts based on your watch history, so you’ll always have something to scroll through, even if you’ve got no signal.
Both features were previously available on Android and were an opt-in experiment for iOS. Now, it’s fully available to iOS users.
Premium may not be essential for every viewer, but these upgrades reinforce YouTube’s position as the go-to hub for both video and audio. Meanwhile, they reinforce the platform’s commitment to continuously enhancing the user experience.