Gmail is one of the most popular advertising-supported email service. Developed by Google, it still has some bits of things that can be improved. One of which is the ability to stream video contents.
For users that regularly exchange video attachments with others using Gmail, they should know that the process of viewing video was not at all convenient: they need to download the file first, and open it with a media player available on their computer in order to watch it.
With a minor update to Gmail, Google is rolling out the ability for users to watch videos straight within Gmail.
To highlight the feature, Gmail will show a thumbnail of a video attachment, instead of a link to download it. Clicking on it will show the video in a popup like overlay. And because the feature uses the same streaming infrastructure found on YouTube and Google Drive, users can adjust the quality and sound levels for the attachment. By default, video attachments are streamed at optimal quality and availability.
Because users aren't anymore required to open their media player in order to video attachments, the feature that is initially available for Gmail desktop users allows previewing of video attachments much easier, smoother and quicker.
The feature to play video attachments straight inside Gmail is indeed a welcome addition. However, it won't change much of its usage. While Google has increased Gmail attachment to 50MB, senders can only upload 25MB attachment onto Google Drive.
In the modern days where high-quality videos are getting more popular than ever, thanks to mobile devices in having better and better cameras, 25MB isn't at all big. So streaming should only be limited to low-quality recordings. However, it will still make things easier for users to deal with video attachments, handy at least in a convenient way.
Google is rolling out the feature to all end users 15 days after its blog announcement on March 16th, 2017.