RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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The company wants users to be able to watch and listen to conversations.
Bangla press/Shutterstock Reddit is known for not really changing much about its core features. It even maintains ( for now ) a 21-year-old version of its site for longtime users who want everything to always look the same. But now the company is testing whether people want to experience posts and comments without having to read walls of text.
Reddit is beginning to experiment with new audio and video features that make its text posts and comments more interactive, the company tells Engadget. With the test, which is starting to roll out now on Reddit's apps and website, users can choose to listen to posts or watch them as shortform videos.The company describes the test as a "limited experiment" affecting "a sample of posts across select communities" on the platform. The new audio and video formats will still link back to the original text posts and comments, which will "remain unchanged," according to a Reddit spokesperson.
It's not yet clear how Reddit is determining where to test the new format, but the company might be looking to highlight posts people might come across in searches that often surface Reddit threads. In one early example shared by the company, an eight-year-old post in r/boardgames asking for suggestions for road trip games for adults" has been converted into a three-minute video. The clip, which appears to use AI-generated voices, narrates the OP's question and some of the top replies. The video is accompanied by text of the posts being narrated.
Though Reddit says this early experiment is meant to understand if users think these types of posts are "helpful," the company has recently added more video features elsewhere in the app. In June, the platform introduced video comments , which allow Redditors to post videos in comment threads that can then be watched in a full-screen player.
The latest test is part of a broader effort from Reddit to draw more new users to the platform and keep casual lurkers coming back. CEO Steve Huffman previewed the change last month during the company's earnings call. "There's an emerging content type elsewhere on the internet of basically podcasts where people read Reddit content, and so I think this version of like listened-to or spoken-Reddit can be really engaging as well," he said.
Update, August 17, 2026, 5:45PM ET: This post was updated to add details about how this experiment is showing up on Reddit, and to add that the feature will be rolling out on the company's website and apps.
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