YouTube Video Sharing Site started a new feature test that allows viewing of quick clips from any video before being viewed by the user, in much the same way as GIF animations.
"We're improving how we make video viewing decisions by launching an
experiment to preview video for the desktop," said the Web site of Google's parent company, Alapabet, in a blog post.
"A small (and increasing) percentage of our users will see a 3-second preview of the video while YouTube is browsing on the desktop," added YouTube.
The site said that the previews will work when the user puts the mouse over the video thumbnails, "giving you a better sense of what is in each video and easy to find the next great video to watch."
YouTube said that the preview feature will appear on the homepage, the search results page, the watch page, the rating tab, and the tabulation of popular content on selected web browsers on the desktop, including Chrome 32 and later and Opera 19 and later.
The new feature will be available on YouTube's current and new design, and the feature is not yet available on mobile devices.
As for the sampling mechanism, YouTube said: "Our system automatically selects a clip from the first half of the video that is thought to give the best idea of your video. At this time, creators can not select the preview you're viewing. "
