Tech News of the Day: YouTube Announces Support for 360-Degree Videos

Welcome to the future of online video.

YouTube announced on Friday that the site now supports 360-degree videos, so a viewer has the ability to pan around the scene as the video plays and watch a moment from different perspectives. On mobile devices you just have to move the phone itself around.

StressLevelZero created the above video as an example of how this new technology works. Note: you’ll need to be in the Chrome browser or on an Android phone.

The short film is about a flying, time traveling red couch, and you can click and drag inside the video to see what’s going on around you.

Of course to produce these videos you will need to buy a special camera. Right now Bublcam, Giroptic’s 360cam, IC Real Tech’s Allie, Kodak’s SP360 and RICOH THETA are all compatible with YouTube. And uploading the content requires a special process.

YouTube also offered some suggestions for what you can do with the technology.

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.