YouTube has adapted its video format to the wide range of aspect ratios and resolutions used by Android smartphones today. Just after frameless smartphones with high aspect ratios became popular, YouTube started allowing users to stretch their videos to this high format. In addition, the program supports multiple resolutions and even technologies such as HDR. If you’re feeling more adventurous than the default options, YouTube is currently testing the ability to freely zoom any part of a YouTube video on your smartphone.

The new feature is featured on YouTube’s experimental features site. When enabled, you can pinch to zoom in on specific parts of the video and navigate the video channel with your finger. Currently you can stretch a video to fit the full width of a taller smartphone screen (18:9, 19.5:9, 20:9), but this will be the closest to scaling. On the contrary, this new feature allows you to look at a specific part of the video in more detail.

This is an experimental YouTube feature, so you won’t find it unexpectedly on your phone during A/B testing. Instead, it’s a YouTube Premium bonus. Premium users can try and send Google feedback. This feature is also only available for a limited time – you can use it until September 1st, after which it will most likely be removed. Later, Google may decide to make it available as a feature for everyone or to discontinue it altogether.

If you want to take a look, be sure to subscribe to YouTube Premium (which gives you ad-free videos, downloads, and background playback on YouTube and YouTube Music). If you don’t want to subscribe, you’ll have to wait to see if Google rolls it out to everyone after the test is complete. Source