14 DAY TRIAL // Google is not wasting any time introducing HTTPS support for many of its products. Earlier this year, Picasa Web Albums switched to the secure protocol and now YouTube is making some first steps as well. The website itself can be accessed via HTTPS, though it's not enabled by default, and embedded videos get the option as well.
It's still in the early stages and support seems to be incomplete for now, but, even so, it's surprising to see YouTube become the latest addition to Google's ambitions for switching to HTTPS entirely.
YouTube actually announced the switch earlier this month, for embedded videos, but it seems that there is preliminary support on the site as well.
"We’re planning a gradual expansion of HTTPS across other aspects of the site. The first place you may see HTTPS YouTube URLs is in our various embed codes, all of which currently support HTTPS in addition to the standard HTTP. Anyone can try HTTPS with YouTube embeds today," Jeff Posnick from the YouTube API Team wrote.
For now, the feature is only fully supported for embedded videos. Simply modify the URL in any embed code and the content will be accessed via HTTPS.
Also, with the new iframe-based YouTube embed code, you get the option to generate a code with HTTPS urls. Still, not all content is loaded via HTTPS.
"Only the YouTube player code is accessible via HTTPS at this time. The actual video bitstream, and some additional content loaded by the YouTube player may still be accessed via standard HTTP connections when you use an HTTPS URL in your embed code," Posnick explained.
Still, the plan is to eventually serve the entire site and all of the content via HTTPS. Once the team is satisfied enough with the technology it may even be enabled by default, but users will have the option of using the plain HTTP as well.