How to Improve Buffering in YouTube
When you're trying to watch a video on YouTube, it can be frustrating when the video is buffering, forcing you to wait while it downloads before you can watch it smoothly. A variety of factors can lead to poor downloading performance on YouTube, including how fast your downloading speed is, whether you are using your bandwidth for other activities simultaneously, and the size and quality of the YouTube video itself. However, you can take steps to improve buffering on YouTube videos.
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Instructions
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Preparation
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1
Quit any applications that use your Internet downloading bandwidth, such as streaming video on a site other than YouTube, or click "Pause" or "Stop" on any streaming media, such from an Internet radio station.
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2
Stop checking for email, or quit your email application.
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3
End any online phone call or video call session, which takes up some of your download bandwidth.
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4
Quit any online game that downloads data to your computer.
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5
Ask anyone using a computer on your network to refrain from using applications that use download bandwidth, such as streaming media, online games, phone calls or video chats.
YouTube
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6
Launch your Web browser. Navigate to the YouTube website (youtube.com).
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Browse or search for a video.
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8
Click the thumbnail picture of a video to start playing it. YouTube will attempt to start playing the video after a portion of it downloads to your computer. If playback is choppy and the video is buffering, click the "Pause" button and wait until the progress line at the bottom of the video goes all the way to the right, indicating that it has finished downloading to your computer.
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Click the "Play" button to watch the video with no buffering.
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Tips & Warnings
Click the number at the bottom right of the video to access the video resolution pop-up menu if you want to try watching a lower-quality version of a video, which will reduce buffering but also result in a poorer image or audio quality. Click a lower-resolution from the pop-up menu to select it, such as 240p or 360p.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Siri Stafford/Digital Vision/Getty Images
