YouTube’s ‘enhanced’ 1080p for Premium subscribers is now available on desktop web


YouTube’s higher-quality 1080p option is now available for all Premium subscribers on desktop globally, spokesperson Paul Pennington confirmed to The Verge. The company officially launched the “enhanced bitrate” 1080p in April on iOS after an earlier test.
I don’t pay for Premium, but I’ve seen the enhanced bitrate option on a handful of videos on Friday as I browsed YouTube in Chrome on my MacBook Air. When I try to click the enhanced bitrate, YouTube prompts me to subscribe to Premium to be able to use it. (If you decide to subscribe to Premium to get the better bitrate, you should know that the service is a bit more expensive than it used to be.)
Don’t worry: the non-enhanced 1080p is still available for us non-Premium subscribers. But if you can take advantage of the enhanced bitrate, it will make things “look extra crisp and clear, especially for videos with lots of detail and motion,” according to an April blog post from YouTube.
The enhanced 1080p for Premium subscribers is also rolling out on YouTube on living room-focused devices like Chromecasts and video game consoles, Pennington confirmed. The feature isn’t available on Android yet, according to Pennington, but in June, it showed up for at least one person, 9to5Google reports.
YouTube’s higher-quality 1080p option is now available for all Premium subscribers on desktop globally, spokesperson Paul Pennington confirmed to The Verge. The company officially launched the “enhanced bitrate” 1080p in April on iOS after an earlier test. I don’t pay for Premium, but I’ve seen the enhanced bitrate option on…
Recent Posts
- One of the best AI video generators is now on the iPhone – here’s what you need to know about Pika’s new app
- Apple’s C1 chip could be a big deal for iPhones – here’s why
- Rabbit shows off the AI agent it should have launched with
- Instagram wants you to do more with DMs than just slide into someone else’s
- Nvidia is launching ‘priority access’ to help fans buy RTX 5080 and 5090 FE GPUs
Archives
- February 2025
- January 2025
- December 2024
- November 2024
- October 2024
- September 2024
- August 2024
- July 2024
- June 2024
- May 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- September 2018
- October 2017
- December 2011
- August 2010