YouTube rolls out 1080p Premium tier for enhanced viewing experience on desktop and some Android TV

YouTube has started rolling out its new 1080p Premium tier to users on the desktop web client. The feature, initially launched on iOS in April, is exclusive to Premium subscribers. It enhances the quality of content by upgrading the bitrate rather than its resolution: this means that while the video dimensions remain the same, the amount of data used to represent the video is increased, resulting in a higher quality viewing experience.

The 1080p option will appear on videos if you're a Premium subscriber or not. However, clicking on that without a subscription will prompt a notice to sign up for the upgraded quality. In addition to the desktop web client, the upgrade is now accessible on some Android TV devices, including Google Chromecast and various game consoles, expanding the range of devices that can benefit from this higher quality streaming.