YouTube Playback Speeds

Project Status: Complete

Very glad to find out that this is another one of my pipe dreams that actually came true. I had always wanted the option for playback speeds on YouTube and even though it seems to have been an option for quite a while, somehow I am just now coming across this.

While watching a video on the desktop version of YouTube you have the option to click the "Settings" gear and then to choose from a few speed options. Pictured here those options are currently: 0.25, 0.5, Normal, 1.5 and 2. The 0.25 and 0.5 play slow motion. The 1.5 and 2 play faster speeds which are very helpful when you are watching tutorials or lectures and really want to get through it faster without having to skip over anything.

Screenshot from YouTube.com of Playback Speed Options

I think it would have been interesting, even though not always that useful, to also have negative speeds. This would allow playing videos in reverse. It also seems that a slider control instead of a preset list with only a few options would be more useful. A slider would allow the user to drag the speed anywhere from let's say negative 2 to the currently available positive 2.

While this is all well and great, I still have no options on YouTube's mobile app to adjust the playback speeds. Hopefully this is a feature that will soon make it's way into the mobile app.