How to Stop a Flash Video from Buffering

Flash video viewing.

Flash is a popular video streaming format for Internet video. The Flash Player is available to download free of charge for every major computer platform. When the video player is not able to acquire data fast enough to display the image on your computer, a process known as "buffering" occurs. Buffering pauses the video playback until a sufficient amount of video can be stored in memory to allow playback to continue. The viewing experience often becomes frustrating when the pauses are frequent.

Things You'll Need

• Adobe Flash Player

Instructions

Flash Video Users

1. Confirm the bandwidth of your Internet connection. The faster the connection, the smoother video playback will be. Hulu.com, provider of Flash video content, recommends a minimum 1 MBS (megabits per second) download speed to view its lowest quality encoded video format. 3.5 MBS will be needed to view high quality high definition (HD) Flash video files.

2. Upgrade your wireless router. Older wireless routers using the 802.11b standard have a maximum bandwidth of 1 MBS. This will be too slow for HD quality Flash video.

3. Confirm you have a strong wireless signal when connecting to the Internet through a wireless router. View the signal strength by accessing the wireless network settings in your operating system. If the strength is shown to be poor, your computer will not be able to retrieve the video fast enough to avoid buffering.

Flash Video Creators

1. Use the SWF file format when uploading Flash video files to non-Flash media streaming web host. Using the FLV format instead of SWF will cause increased buffering delays. The FLV format does not download the file progressively using normal web hosts, as is the case with the SWF format.

2. Upload the video files to a Flash Media server host. Flash Media Server hosts use Flash Media Server technology to properly configure and stream FLV and F4V formats using high bandwidth "top-tier" Internet providers. These providers provide redundant Internet connections that prevent drops in bandwidth due to increased network traffic.

3. Decrease the video file size and bandwidth consumption when encoding Flash video files. Files that require more than 1 MBS of bandwidth will require buffering if played on Internet connections slower than 1 MBS.

References

• Adobe: Macromedia Flash Support Center; Streaming and Playback Performance
• Vcstar: Several Strategies Can Improve User's Jerky Streaming Video
• Hulu: I Can Play the Videos on Hulu, but Why Does It Keep Stalling/Stuttering?