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YouTube added a ‘zoom-to-fill’ mode for the Google Pixel 2 XL’s 18:9 display

Most “bezel-light” devices on the market make their much larger displays more manageable by adopting a thinner, more one-hand friendly 18:9 aspect ratio. In some cases, that doesn’t play well, especially with 16:9 video. Now, YouTube has a native way to adapt to that ratio for Google’s new flagship.

In the YouTube app, seemingly exclusive to the Pixel 2 XL, for now, Google has added a way to let users adapt the video they are watching to better fit the aspect ratio on this device. In a recent teardown of the YouTube app, we spotted code snippets hinting at this functionality. Thanks to Android Police, we now know that it’s live for users to experience.

Rather than Samsung’s implementation which uses the OS to adjust the video, this functionality is built directly into the YouTube app. All you have to do to adapt the video is use a pinch-to-zoom gesture either to view the video on the entire screen or to zoom out and see it in its native ratio.


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