YouTube Creator Blog [UK]: A new way to see and share your world with 360-degree video

A new way to see and share your world with 360-degree video

Friday, March 13, 2015

You share incredible videos with your fans every second of the day, but what if you could share even more in that video? Like, sharing the entire moment that you’re filming?

You could let viewers see the stage and the crowd of your concert, the sky and the ground as you wingsuit glide, or you could even have a choose-your-own-adventure video where people see a different story depending on where they look. Only you know what’s possible. That’s why today we are starting to support 360-degree video uploads on YouTube, to continue giving you all the best resources to connect with your viewers.

People can watch your videos on the existing YouTube app for Android, and by moving the phone or tablet around they’ll see all the different angles while the video plays. They can do the same on youtube.com or embedded videos on Chrome by using the mouse to drag the point of view around, and we’re working to bring this to iPhone, iPad and other devices soon.

Creating and uploading 360-degree videos on YouTube

To make it easy for you to create and upload 360-degree videos to YouTube, we’ve been working with companies across the industry. Bublcam, Giroptic’s 360cam, IC Real Tech’s Allie, Kodak’s SP360 and RICOH THETA are 360-degree video cameras compatible with YouTube that are available today or are coming soon. You can find more technical information on the video format, along with a script you need to run on the video file to insert the correct metadata. We’re working to make this automatic, but in the meantime, this script will make sure your video uploads to YouTube as a 360-degree video.

If you’re around the YouTube Space L.A., our Creator Tech team is also hosting a technology showcase from now through April, where you can try out these new cameras and learn new techniques from our staff.

Remember when the vantage point of the fisheye lens blew your mind? Now let’s see what you can do with every possible angle at your recording fingertips.