YouTube Rolls Out Auto AI Upscaling For Low Quality Videos And Other Cool Features
With streaming content being watched on bigger displays than ever before, Google wants to ensure that older, lower-resolution videos (think 480p and 720p) don't look janky on your fancy new 4K TV. YouTube is rolling out a suite of creator tools to address that and chief among them is the use of AI to breathe new life into its vast archive of low-resolution videos.
Mountain View's new Super Resolution feature is designed to automatically upscale older clips, initially converting videos uploaded below 1080p from standard definition (SD) to high-definition (HD), with plans to eventually support 4K upscaling, believe it or not. This announcement spotlights Google's response to TVs becoming YouTube's fastest-growing viewing surface; what looks passable on a phone screen can be a pixelated mess on a 50-inch smart TV.
This feature rollout does come with careful assurances for creators who might fear AI is taking liberties with their work, a concern that previously surfaced with automated enhancements on YouTube Shorts. YouTube states that creators will retain complete control, with their original files and resolutions kept intact, and that there's an option to opt-out of the AI enhancement. Viewers, too, have a choice: the "super resolution" label will be visible in the quality settings, allowing them to switch back to the original resolution if they prefer.
YouTube is also tweaking how content is packaged and discovered on the TV interface. The maximum file size limit for video thumbnails is being dramatically expanded from 2MB to a massive 50MB, enabling creators to upload 4K-resolution thumbnails that will look at home on large displays.
Channel pages are also receiving a makeover with immersive previews on the homepage, allowing viewers to fluidly browse and flip through their favorite creators in a manner that feels more akin to traditional channel surfing.
Discovery is being refined, too -- when a viewer performs a search from a creator's channel page, that channel's videos will now be prioritized at the top of the results.
Finally, in a bid to tap into the booming shopping trend, new features include scannable QR codes in tagged videos that instantly open product pages on a viewer's phone. Prior to this, creators were only able to deploy QR codes manually or via third-party services.
