This article was published on March 21, 2012

YouTube launches “one click fix” to improve the quality of your videos


YouTube launches “one click fix” to improve the quality of your videos

When we’re trying to capture something really funny, awesome, or downright amusing with our camera, the video quality is the last thing we’re thinking about. Capture the moment is the goal, and if you do it right then you might just have the next “viral” gem on your hands.

YouTube has announced a new feature to help you focus on capturing that perfect moment, and it’s a one click tool to improve the quality of that clip you just shot. You know, the one with crappy lighting, your hand partially covering the microphone, and everything else that could make it turn out not-so-hot.

YouTube launched a video editing suite last year which provides some neat tools to give your video a better look, including stabilization and color saturation control. This new feature does it all for you automagically now, and here’s what the YouTube team had to say about it:

If you upload a video that’s shaky or dark, we’ll automatically offer to fix it for you, creating an updated version of your video on YouTube.

When you upload a video that could use a fixup, you’ll see a notification bar on the Upload page and in your Video Manager. Click the button to fix it, and you’ll see a side by side preview to decide if you want to accept the edits.

The nice part about the tool is that you can always go back to the original version if you like, as YouTube stores both copies now. Unfortunately, the tool can’t be triggered via mobile device, but you can fix up your video once you get back to your desktop.

Here’s a quick video preview of the feature:

Putting more focus on sharing content and less on whether everything looks great is a great move by Google. In addition, the biggest complaint about YouTube videos are how poorly lit or grainy they are, so hopefully this fixes some of those problems. If anything, it’s one less thing to worry about when you’re trying to capture your dog walking down the stairs on its front paws.

Get the TNW newsletter

Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.

Also tagged with