YouTube sta testando velocità di riproduzione incredibili fino a quattro volte più veloci rispetto alla normale per i video.

Some videos are too long, that's why there are different video playback speed options - YouTube allows you to increase the speed of a video up to 2 times. Now, however, the platform is testing a surprising new playback speed: 4 times.

Currently, YouTube users can speed up videos at double speed by changing the video settings or simply pressing their thumb on the right side of the mobile device screen. However, a new 4x option is being implemented experimentally and is now accessible to YouTube Premium subscribers on mobile devices. The 2x option will remain the preferred one for most cases, while the 4x option will require users to manually adjust the playback speed within the video settings menu.

This increased speed will allow viewers to consume content at an accelerated pace, compressing otherwise long videos into much shorter clips. But you can discuss whether at this point it counts as "consuming" the content. It's already difficult to understand speech at 2x sometimes, and at 4x the speech can be incomprehensible. For most videos, the ideal point is probably 1.5x or 2x. Personally, I prefer 1.5x a little more: it makes some longer videos faster, and the speech is understandable throughout the video, so it has practically no downsides unless it's already a very fast video.

Some types of videos, such as slow-paced tutorials without narration, could benefit from this new crazy 4x speed: imagine the potential of compressing a 10-minute video into just two and a half. But it's probably too much for most of the content we tend to watch. Even without a voiceover, you might have trouble keeping up.

The 4x playback speed is currently available on both Android and iOS devices for Premium users who sign up through the experimental features section of the YouTube app. Users can access it by navigating to their profile page, then selecting "Premium Benefits" and finally "Experimental Features". These experimental features tend to stay for a limited time before Google decides whether to keep them permanently or remove them, and many have been removed, so try them while you can.