YOUTUBE PRETTY MUCH dominates the online video industry but it’s already thinking about what’s coming up next, and its answer is 360-degree videos.

A spokesperson for YouTube told Gizmodo that it’s working on supporting 360-degree videos in the coming weeks.

It hasn’t revealed how exactly the videos will work, but such videos normally operate similar to panoramas, allowing users to click and drag across an image to change the camera angle while it plays.

While this doesn’t seem like much on desktop, it could mean more for mobile and VR, especially since smartphones already come with an accelerometer and gyroscope to help determine its positioning.

Google already has Cardboard, its experiment with VR which also includes a version of YouTube for viewing, while Samsung has its own headset named Gear VR. The latter also announced Milk VR this week, its aim to provide 360-degree videos for the headset which will last 1 – 10 minutes.

The site has added various improvements to its videos in recent times like 60fps quality usually designed for films and videogames. And with more 360-degree capable devices like Bublcam and Samsung announcing Project Beyond back in November, combining both may happen sooner than you would expect.

Making a difference

A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

For the price of one cup of coffee each week you can make sure we can keep reliable, meaningful news open to everyone regardless of their ability to pay.

Support us Learn More

Sean Ramsay / Vimeo

Read: Department’s plan to collect data on every child a ‘worrying overreach of the State’ >

Read: Use Facebook Messenger often? Here are some features that will come in handy >