YouTube Goes Widescreen

YouTube today announced a new feature that will see the player appear in widescreen. While it seems like a great idea, the change has been met with mixed feelings.

Widescreen isn’t exactly brand new to YouTube, however what is new is that this feature is now activated by default. The company detailed in its official blog that the site would be expanding the width of the player to better reflect the quality of videos users are uploading. However, while the YouTube team is hopeful that this will provide a more powerful viewing experience, some users are rather miffed at the black bars appearing on either side of current 4:3 videos.

Most of the videos people have uploaded so far are in 4:3 and while YouTube has told users not to worry and assured them their 4:3 videos will play just fine. Yeah, they play fine, but YouTube forgot to mention the black panels on either side of the 4:3 videos and it’s not going unnoticed. Granted, it’s not something that will drive users away. It doesn’t affect viewing, but it’s just one of those things that some viewers find a little bit annoying.

Those unhappy with the black panels at the side are likely the same who complained about black bars at the top and bottom of letterboxed movies. While such claims against preserving original aspect ratio are just plain silly, there’s little reason why YouTube wouldn’t be able to format a 4:3 or 16:9 ratio depending on the video.

There could be a whole bunch of reasons why Google has decided to do this. Given the fact that the company just signed a deal with MGM to provide full length movies and another deal that will see them show full episodes of Star Trek and Beverly Hills 90210, it’s possible YouTube upgraded the format just to suit these new feature length clips, however it’s also possible that similar deals are on the way and this change is just paving the way. Watch this space.