A few months ago, Google faced a lot of backlash for testing an option that would allow subscribers of its paid Premium-only service to view YouTube content in 4K. Most of these reactions were caused by the fact that this feature was already available for free and it was planned to be suddenly placed under the fee wall. Fortunately, the company has put an end to this controversial experiment. But now it seems to be testing another option for Premium subscribers.
Some YouTubers say they noticed the “1080p Premium” option during video playback. The subtitle under the option mentions “Improved bitrate”. While this is somewhat self-explanatory, a YouTube spokesperson explained: “1080p Premium is an enhanced bitrate version of 1080p that provides more information per pixel and offers a higher quality viewing experience. There is no change in quality available for 1080p resolution on YouTube.”
While the resolution at which you play the video is important, the bitrate is also important. For those who don’t know, bitrate is a measure of how much video information is transmitted per second.
It looks like the new option will allow Premium subscribers to view 1080p videos at higher quality compared to standard users. YouTube’s description seems to emphasize that no changes have been made to the available options; which means the new option will be a way to persuade users to upgrade to a YouTube Premium subscription.
It should also be noted that a higher bitrate requires a higher bandwidth. Therefore, it seems logical that this option is paid.
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