Google now encrypts 97 percent of its YouTube data using HTTPS technology, which offers superior data integrity and security features to websites and its visitors.
According to TechCrunch, Google now has added a new feature to its Transparency Report that details the deployment of HTTPS for encryption purposes. Earlier, the report only provided information about Maps, Google Drive, Gmail and Finance; however, it also now displays data for Google Calendar and YouTube.
Google explained that the existence of "mixed content" on YouTube is one of the biggest reason behind the delay in achieving high level of encryption. The company also explained on its YouTube Engineering and Developers Blog that heavy traffic on the site makes the process of encryption more difficult.
YouTube is accessed by different users on different devices and the encryption process is required to work on all such devices. Since many of such devices may not provide full support to modern HTTPS protocol, it is likely that Google may take quite some time to reach 100 percent encryption level. The company is looking to reduce the instances of unsecure connections for YouTube, where it has already done the same with Gmail.
Google introduced HTTPS support for YouTube in 2014, where it offered protection against malwares planted through unsecure connections. With HTTPS in place, YouTube users can have better and more secure video watching experience. Its blog even stated, "We found that HTTPS improved quality of experience on most clients: by ensuring content integrity, we virtually eliminated many types of streaming errors."