Like the picture-in-picture floating video panel, YouTube has taken this feature from its mobile apps and has given it a desktop spin. When you scroll down while in portrait mode on mobile, the video that's playing takes up the whole upper part of the screen. On desktop, as you can see above, the video takes up a small part of the bar, which also shows its title, as well as the thumbs up/down, share and subscribe buttons. YouTube might be testing both the floating video and miniplayer-bar features to see what's more effective on the desktop version of the website. While the platform might end up releasing them both to the public, it could also choose the one that works better on a bigger screen.
Google - owned YouTube is testing what is termed a " miniplayer - bar " for desktop users . The feature , in which a picture bar follows a user as they scroll down , has been borrowed from the mobile version of the site , alongside the picture - in - picture tool . users have claimed YouTube is testing which is more effective and popular for desktop users .