Summary

  • YouTube Premium subscribers can now experiment with 4x playback speed on videos.
  • This feature allows users to speed up videos significantly, potentially useful for skipping intros, sponsor segments, or quickly reviewing content.
  • The 4x speed experiment is available on Android and iOS devices until February 26th, and Premium users must opt-in via the YouTube experiments page.

YouTube is consistently testing out new features as part of its early access experimental program for YouTube Premium subscribers. Not only does this allow paying users to try out upcoming features before they’re released to the broader YouTube user base, it also allows the streaming giant to gather feedback and scratch or further fine-tune features.

Earlier this month, on January 22, the video giant announced a suite of new features slated to arrive on the experiments page alongside a new Google One bundle — as of last night, all the experiments have finally been made available to Premium subscribers.

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The new experiment list includes:

  • Jump Ahead for the web
  • High quality 256kbps audio
  • Faster playback speeds
  • Shorts Picture-in-Picture (iOS)
  • Shorts Smart Downloads (iOS)

For what it’s worth, almost all the new experimental features made their way to the landing page soon after YouTube announced them, barring faster playback speeds. We’ve been monitoring the page since then, and the expanded speed option finally appeared last night.

Screenshots highlighting YouTube's new 4x Playback Speed slider.

The feature allows Premium users who opt in to fine-tune playback speed by up to 4x. While not useful in a majority of situations, considering all of your videos would sound like an Alvin and the Chipmunks movie, the feature can prove to be handy when you want to skip over complete sections while still having an idea about what happened or to skip intros and sponsor blocks.

It’s worth noting that the 4x playback speed experiment is only limited to Android and iOS smartphones, at least for now. The feature is available to opt into and try out until Wednesday, February 26.

Here’s how you can opt in

Screenshots highlighting how one can opt into th eperimental 4x playback speed feature.

  1. Head to the YouTube experiments page.
  2. Ensure that you’re signed in to your YouTube Premium account.
  3. Scroll down to the ‘Faster Speeds’ experiment.
  4. Tap ‘Try it out.’
  5. If the option to ‘Turn off’ the feature pops up, it means that the faster playback speed experiment has been enabled for you.

Note: It can take up to an hour for the feature to actually show up on the YouTube app after you opt in.