YouTube quietly makes Premium feature free to use in move viewers brand 'really big step'

YouTube quietly makes Premium feature free to use in a move users are calling a 'really big step'.

YouTube Premium remains one of the better value streaming subscriptions available today, among the likes of Amazon Music and Spotify.

For $13.99 per month, or $22.99 per month for a family account, YouTube Premium is a paid upgrade from the base streaming video service that removes ads and includes YouTube Music and background playback.

Earlier this year, Google expanded its offerings by launching YouTube Premium Lite, a cheaper subscription tier with fewer features than the full Premium package.

The tech giant has avoided adding features for free users, until one Reddit user spotted a complimentary feature that was previously reserved for Premium subscribers.

YouTube launched Premium Lite as a cheaper subscription model than the full Premium package. (Anadolu/Contributor/Getty)

The user discovered that YouTube now allows everyone to download videos without needing a Premium account. Users can then watch their videos or podcasts offline, which comes in handy if you're travelling or trying to save mobile data.

Downloaded videos also play without ads, so users watch content over and over without interruption.

However, as always, there is a catch.

Free YouTube users can only download videos in medium and lower quality versions including 144p and 360p resolution. For high-quality or full HD offline viewing, users still require a YouTube Premium subscription.

"I accidentally hit the download button when trying to save a video to my watch later only to find out that you can now download videos (at not the best quality) without premium," the keen-eyed viewer posted on Reddit.

"This is a really big step for YouTube in my opinion."

The update also excludes music videos and YouTube Shorts and won't allow 'unlimited downloads,' according to Android Police.

In the Reddit forum, some users openly welcomed the addition, with one viewer simply writing: "Much better."

Another user replied: "That's nice to have an option at all for free users.

"I remember a time I had to go to random sketchy websites to download a youtube video. Or more commonly convert a video into an mp3 for putting on my iPod touch 4th gen at the time."

Other users were less fazed by the update, admitting: "i have never once downloaded videos from youtube directly and this was long before youtube even had the option to download videos. i have always used third-party software, sites and apps respectively to download any video from the internet to this day."