Users of Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Gmail will now be able to stream videos that have been sent to their email addresses as attachments. This follows an update that was made by the tech giant. Previously, users had to first download video files that had been sent as attachments before launching a media player in order to watch the video.

The update not only adds convenience to Gmail users but also prevents users from having to clog the storage on their computers or devices with huge video files. It will also be time-saving since users of email application will also be able to get a glimpse of the video prior to deciding whether to stream or not.

Thumbnail preview

Once a user logs in to their inbox containing a video attachment, he will be able to see a thumbnail containing an image from a frame obtained from the video. To stream it, all users will be required to do is double click on the thumbnail and this will launch a media player. Just like in YouTube, users will be able to adjust or configure the sound levels, playing speeds and other settings. It will also be possible to stream a video attachment to a device such as Chromecast.

At the moment though, the feature is only available for users of Gmail on a personal computer and is yet to be launched for mobile device operating systems. The feature is also not available to the entire worldwide userbase of Gmail but will be available to all in about 15 days.

Video size limitation

One limitation that the feature comes with is that it only works with small video files since attachments on Gmail are limited to a size of 50MB anyway. The new feature does not, however, take away the old way of doing things as users who prefer to download a video attachment rather than streaming it will still be able to do so. Google has indicated that the quality of video streaming will be similar to that offered on YouTube since the same technology is being applied.

On Friday shares of Alphabet Inc rose by 0.27% to close the day at $872.37.