Platforms like Snapchat and Instagram have made recording and watching vertical videos commonplace. But if you've ever played a vertical video on YouTube, two giant black bars filled most of your screen. YouTube's latest update for the iPhone changes that.
On Tuesday, in a Twitter post, the venerable site for internet videos announced that the YouTube player for iOS will now automatically adapt to the shape of the video you're watching.
Bye bye, black bars. 👋
— Team YouTube (@TeamYouTube) December 19, 2017
Now the YouTube player on iOS will automatically adapt to the shape of the video you’re viewing! pic.twitter.com/4jzJ6nPj4G
If the video is vertical, the player will become vertical. If the video is square, the player will become square, which means goodbye, black bars.