Recently, we’ve seen Google make many changes to its apps and services to make UIs more consistent between platforms. YouTube in particular has seen a good number of tweaks after Google launched an initiative to make its video sharing platform more visually appealing. Now, videos themselves are getting a new look that features curved corners rather than straight edges.
YouTube spokesperson Allison Toh confirmed to The Verge on Tuesday that all users will see curved corners in videos on the desktop site. The change will happen gradually at the account level, but has already begun rolling out to many users.
With this change, the main video player now matches the mini-player and video suggestions, which have used rounded corners for some time. As opposed to a rigid angle, this rounder look is softer and gives the video player a more modern feel.
However, the change is not without its downsides, and has so far been met with mixed reactions. Several pixels from the original content are no longer being shown, as YouTube has effectively cropped the video. And from a design perspective, rounded corners could seem out of place on a computer monitor with squared-off corners.
The new look will not extend to theater mode, which aims to maximize your screen size. When videos are maximized, they still fill out your entire screen, so corners will only be rounded in full-screen if your monitor itself has rounded corners.
Meanwhile, similar tweaks have been tested on YouTube’s skip ads button, where the hard 90-degree edges may see changes to rounded corners as part of an effort to make the button more subtle in appearance. Even Google Maps got the rounded treatment with a revamped search bar on the web just last week. It seems like Google is all in on curves.
