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YouTube adds even more video resolution controls and options on mobile

If you’re frustrated by the level of control offered by the YouTube mobile app with regard to video resolution, then the addition of even more precise options will be very welcome.

A recent server-side update to the YouTube mobile app has now added further options beyond the incremental options and auto resolutions. Previously, the auto option was the only secondary selection you could make beyond the “advanced” or incremental options.

The brand-new video resolution controls allow you to prioritize “higher picture quality” which, as you’d expect, uses more data, or “data saver,” which lowers the picture/video quality when streaming videos on the YouTube mobile app.

Obviously, when playing, the video quality will change depending on your network or data connection conditions. The “higher picture quality” mode appears to cap out at 720p in our very brief testing. “Data saver” will top out at 480p, but can drop as low as the very lowest 144p resolution offered.

You are also able to choose just which option you want the video streaming app to default to when playing mobile and Wi-Fi networks from within the YouTube app Settings section. On top of that, when playing a video, you can always use the “Advanced” tab to choose a specific video playback resolution – from 144p all the way up to 4K UHD.

The expanded video resolution options should now be available widely for YouTube on mobile – both Android and iOS (h/t Android Police). Make sure you’ve updated to the latest version on the Google Play Store or App Store if you haven’t done so already.

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Avatar for Damien Wilde Damien Wilde

Damien is a UK-based video producer for 9to5Google. Find him on Twitter: @iamdamienwilde. Email: damien@9to5mac.com