YouTube Web Player Now Features Transparent Controls

YouTube has rolled out a UI update for its Web player that replaces the dated black bar that appeared at the bottom of the video player with a transparent one. The new UI update should be live for everyone and also includes new animations for settings.

The company confirmed the news via a tweet and said, "Ooh la la! Our new player design is slicker than a squirrel on waterskis!"

The new transparent video player features floating controls that seem to be embedded in the playing video itself; though the controls disappear after few seconds of pointer inactivity. Notably, there are no changes made to the list of videos that appear on the right side of the screen in YouTube. Some media reports point out that YouTube initially started testing the transparent video player with limited number of users in April. You can watch the new video player interface below.

Google's video platform recently made a push into virtual reality by adding 3D support for videos that play back in 360-degree format. With the new addition, YouTube users could view videos via the mobile YouTube app or Chrome browser by just panning around in any direction in the 360-degree videos.

YouTube last month rolled out a new version enabling better viewing of vertical videos on full screen on all types of devices. According to the company, the update brought three new tabs in YouTube namely Home, Subscriptions, and Account. The redesigned YouTube app furthermore gave users the ability to use a new set of video creation tools.