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YouTube is testing a major upgrade that could give users more control over their listening experience. Android Authority has discovered new code strings in the latest YouTube app beta, hinting at an upcoming feature that would allow users to adjust audio quality separately from video quality, a long-requested feature for those frustrated with inconsistent or poor audio in videos.
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An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release.
Currently, changing video resolution on YouTube has no effect on the audio quality of a video. Whether you’re watching in 144p or 4K, YouTube’s audio format, which is displayed as “Opus 251” in Stats for Nerds, remains the same. Opus is an audio coding format and 251 is the name of the codec option, which corresponds to 128kbps variable bitrate 48KHz audio. This means that even if a video looks top-notch, its audio quality depends on the uploader and is fixed by YouTube. Users have no control over it. This can be problematic when videos are uploaded with subpar sound.
But that may soon change. We’ve discovered code strings in the latest YouTube beta app revealing references to user-controlled audio quality options, suggesting that YouTube could soon let you choose between different audio bitrates. According to the discovered strings, users may be able to select from the following options:
- Auto: Likely adjusts the audio quality based on your internet speed.
- Normal: YouTube’s standard audio quality (possibly the current 128kbps Opus format)
- High: A higher bitrate option, potentially improving clarity.
There’s a catch, though: This feature appears to be exclusive to YouTube Premium subscribers as per the code strings. Of course, YouTube would want to do this to offer additional perks to paid users. However, it’s possible that the options to select audio quality may not be available for all videos, as the code hints that it could be limited to select content. Moreover, the code also shows that selecting a higher audio-quality stream would eat up more data, as can be expected.
