Steam might get a lot of praise, but there are a few aspects that definitely needed work. The video player most often used for game trailers has been buggy for years, and now Steam is finally giving it a much-needed overhaul. No more jumping over to YouTube.
You’ll notice the changes right away with a refreshed interface that feels way snappier and easier to use. There’s an adaptable interface that adjusts to the current screen size and platform including desktop, phone, Steam Deck, or even Steam’s Big Picture Mode without issues. This is a huge win for Steam’s usability, as you won’t have to fight with a clunky interface that wasn’t designed for your specific device.
Beyond the fresh look, the new trailer player also gives you preview images as you scroll through the video. This means as you mouse over or scrub your finger along the timeline, you’ll see little thumbnail previews of where you’re about to jump to. It’s something that YouTube has had for years, but it’s surprising to finally see it on Steam. Also, you can finally pause easier, without needing to find the pause button, just click anywhere on the screen.
One of my biggest issues was how long the player needs to load a video, especially when you click ahead. Now, seeking and scrubbing are much faster, with fewer pauses and hitches when you jump forward or backward. The transition to full-screen is seamless, too. This is all thanks to an underlying change in how its video technology, which makes the whole experience feel a lot smoother. It’s like night and day compared to the old player, where hitting that full-screen button sometimes felt like a gamble.
Valve also made the trailer player smarter about how it uses your internet bandwidth. They’ve reprocessed every single trailer, around 400,000 video files in total, to generate up to four different sizes: 360p, 480p, 720p, and 1080p. The player will then dynamically switch between these resolutions depending on your network conditions and how big the player is on your screen. This means you should get a much smoother viewing experience without constantly buffering, even if your internet isn’t top-tier.
The new trailer player is also much better at handling different video aspect ratios. It’ll properly scale, center, and letterbox videos as needed, so you won’t have weirdly stretched or cropped trailers anymore. This might not sound like a huge deal, but it really cleans up the overall presentation and makes the trailers look their best.
It’s pretty interesting that a company like Valve had such a clunky trailer player for so long. Some videos will have a lower resolution, since they don’t have the original backup of some files, like the Portal trailer, but the player itself feels like it’s been modernized.
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