Hi everyone,
We launched an update to the YouTube video player on desktop – the player now automatically adapts to provide the best viewing experience based on the video’s size (aspect ratio) and your computer’s screen/browser size.
Highlighting the changes below and sharing more about the reasons behind the change:
Historically, for non wide-screen videos (not 16:9) like vertical and square videos, we would show black bars alongside the video, making the video really small. This update moves away from the need for black bars. We launched this update on mobile awhile back (both Android and iOS) so this change also aligns the desktop and mobile viewing experiences.
4:3 (like older SD videos)
BEFORE:
AFTER:
Vertical videos
BEFORE:
AFTER:
Standard 16:9 videos
For most newer videos in the standard HD aspect ratio, this update uses some of the screen’s extra white space, to enhance the video size, without impact to the video quality.
BEFORE:
AFTER:
We’ve seen tons of feedback already and please do keep it coming! You can leave comments below, and also feel free to submit feedback via our official feedback tool (as that helps us prioritize all requests).
Thanks!
Source: Google Groups