YouTube Unveils Enhanced Playback Speed Control for a Tailored Viewing Experience

YouTube is continuously enhancing its user experience by introducing innovative features. In October, the platform revealed a variety of updates, including a sleep timer, a resizable miniplayer, and a range of visual enhancements. Recently, it has been reported that YouTube is in the process of launching a revamped playback speed control feature. This upgraded tool is designed to offer users finer control over their viewing speed. The feature, previously teased, is now being made available to users on both Android and iOS devices, with plans for a global rollout expected shortly.

YouTube is implementing a refreshed version of its playback speed functionality. As detailed in a recent report, this new feature is available to users running YouTube version 19.43 on Android and 19.44 on iOS. When users navigate to Settings and select Playback Speed, a compact rectangular box appears at the bottom of the screen.

Inside this box, users will see five preset speed options presented as pill-shaped buttons: 0.25, 1.0 (Normal), 1.25, 1.5, and 2.0. In addition to these options, an adjustable slider is also included. This allows users to fine-tune their playback speed in increments of 0.5. The chosen speed is displayed above the slider, and users can modify it by sliding or by tapping the plus and minus buttons situated on either side of the slider.

In the past, the playback speed menu would emerge in a lengthy pop-up that occupied a significant portion of the lower half of the screen. This older design resembled the current layout used for the sleep timer feature. Users were limited to a set selection of preset speed options: 0.25x, 0.5x, 0.75x, Normal, 1.25x, 1.5x, 1.75x, and 2x.

It is worth noting that YouTube highlighted the enhanced playback speed control in a blog announcement made earlier in October. The platform indicated its commitment to rolling out numerous updates across various devices, including web, mobile, TVs, and YouTube Music applications.