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YouTube is adding two useful perks, Background Play and Downloads, to its $7.99-per-month Premium Lite subscription.
Background Play lets subscribers keep music and videos playing while switching to other apps. With Downloads, meanwhile, you can save videos for offline viewing, though there are a few restrictions on Premium Lite.
Those on the cheaper tier will not be able to download Shorts, music videos, or videos that contain licensed music, such as dance videos, cover songs, or a vlog with a song in the background. If you wish to download any of these videos, you’ll need to get the standard YouTube Premium subscription for $13.99 per month.
YouTube began adding Background Play and Downloads to the Premium Lite subscription on Tuesday and expects to complete the rollout in the coming weeks. The company says it made the move based on user feedback.
The Premium Lite subscription launched in March 2025 in the US as an alternative to the standard YouTube Premium, offering ad-free viewing across most categories, excluding music, such as gaming, fashion, beauty, and news.
The two perks added this week improve the Lite subscription’s value, but the full YouTube Premium plan still offers far more features. That tier includes access to YouTube Music’s full library (saving $10.99 per month), removes ads across the platform, and unlocks features like Jump ahead, Continue watching, and some premium playback controls.
In any case, ads and subscriptions remain major revenue streams for YouTube. Together, they generated $60 billion in fiscal year 2025.