Today YouTube announced that it will begin automatically AI upscaling low-quality videos below 1080p resolution. This will initially upscale from SD to HD, but will eventually go all the way to 4K in the “near future”.
It’s only intended for use on TVs, at least for now, and whenever it’s operational you’ll see the “Super Resolution” descriptor below each resolution option, as shown in the video below. Creators can opt out of this if they wish.
YouTube is expanding the thumbnail file limit from 2MB to 50MB, so expect “new, stunning 4K-resolution thumbnails” for videos soon. Plus, you’ll be able to flip through YouTube channels with “immersive previews” on the homepage, and the latest Show design lets creators organize their videos into “collections more suitable for the living room.”
Contextual search is also coming to TV – when you start a search from a channel page, videos from that channel will be prioritized at the top of the results. Finally, you’ll soon see QR codes that will let you open product pages for products mentioned in videos on your phone.
All of these improvements are coming to TV as TV is YouTube’s fastest growing platform.
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