YouTube Music is testing a great visual improvement. Album art will fill the entire display

The playback screen in YouTube Music has looked almost the same for years – a small square with album art in the middle and a lot of empty space around it. But now it looks like Google is preparing a refresh: in the new layout, the album art will practically fill the entire screen.

What will the new player look like?

The principle is simple. Instead of today’s small square, which only hints at a CD or vinyl cover, the album cover will stretch across the entire display and become the main decoration of the player. Buttons and controls remain, they just move over the enlarged graphic. Visually, YouTube Music thus approaches the competition – for example, Apple Music displays album art similarly generously today.

The new feature was revealed by a screenshot shared on Telegram by one of the users; the server Android Authority was the first to notice it. The enlarged cover occupies the area that was previously empty, and the player looks significantly more modern than the current one.

You’ll have to wait for the change

Before you start looking in the app for where to turn on the new look, a sober note: this is a limited A/B test that Google has rolled out to only a small portion of users. The editorial teams of Android Authority and Android Police were unable to get the new feature working on their phones – including a Pixel 10a with Android 17. Furthermore, testing can end completely without notice, as is common with similar Google experiments.

Would you welcome full-screen album art in YouTube Music?

Sources: Android Authority, Android Police