YouTube opens enhanced 1080p resolution to the desktop

If you spring for Google’s increasingly expensive YouTube Premium service, you might have seen a “1080p Premium” option on some videos on your iOS, or on your smart TV or Chromecast. According to new reports today, the option is expanding to desktops and laptops via the browser, finally opening it up to millions more users after months in testing. The higher-quality setting is only available on YouTube Premium, but standard 1080p videos (and even higher resolutions) are still available to free users.

The Verge reports that the 1080p Premium option, which boosts video quality with an enhanced bitrate that takes it easy on YouTube’s compression, is available on desktop browsers starting today. Strangely, YouTube still hasn’t enabled the setting on the Android version of the app, even though it’s been available on iOS for months. You’d think that supporting Google’s own mobile platform would be super easy, barely an inconvenience.

The Premium option is visible on the videos that have it enabled, whether or not you’re paying. If you don’t have a Premium subscription and you click on it, you’ll be prompted to sign up. The service, which increased from $11.99 to $13.99 a month for single users back in July, also offers ad-free viewing, mobile downloads, background audio-only playback on iOS and Android, and access to the premium tier of YouTube Music.