• November 26, 2008

Bigger isn't always better for YouTube fans. The video-sharing site's adoption of a widescreen format for playing videos has met with a hail of complaints rather than oohs and aahs.

That's because the 16:9 aspect ratio of the new YouTube media player means that most videos (uploaded to the site in the conventional 4:3 ratio) will play with black bars framing the screen. In announcing the change on its blog Monday, YouTube assured that the widescreen would provide "a cleaner, more powerful viewing experience" and that videos in 4:3 would play "just fine."

But judging by the hundreds of comments posted to the blog, users aren't embracing the new look. "This is great for new videos, but not good for those videos we've all uploaded 4x3 with widescreen bars, and that now play with bars on all four sides!" read one post. Many of the comments suggest giving users the option of watching videos in either format.

"Either that, or lose a lot of users to superior sites," warned another irate YouTube viewer.--Mark Walsh