Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR
- YouTube users on desktops, smart TVs, and iOS are reporting a major quality downgrade while streaming.
- Videos automatically start playing in 144p or 360p resolution despite a strong internet connection.
- Thankfully, YouTube has acknowledged the problem and is doing something about it.
YouTube is not looking good. No, the platform isn’t in crisis, but it’s facing an annoying issue that is causing streams to play in very poor quality even on fast internet connections.
Users have been complaining for days on platforms like Reddit, and we’ve noticed it, too, on our smart TVs. Videos default to low resolutions like 144p or 360p, even when the internet speed is more than sufficient. Trying to manually switch to 1080p or a higher resolution only results in constant buffering, which is frustrating when you know your connection isn’t the problem.
The issue seems to be hitting iOS users, desktop viewers, and smart TV users the hardest. The app seems to be functioning fine on Android phones and tablets.
“Whenever I open videos or YouTube Shorts, it opens with very, very poor quality, like 144p, and I think it’s worst because I can see the pixels. I know I can change it to whatever I want, but this is wired and never happened before to me,” an iOS YouTube user wrote on Reddit.
“Even when I manually choose 720p, which my connection is completely capable of and has been, it refuses to go above 144p. It’s unwatchable,” wrote another user.
Fix incoming
Thankfully, YouTube has acknowledged the issue and is working on a fix. The platform addressed the problem in a support page update:
“We’re aware some of you are experiencing lower than usual video quality when trying to watch Videos and Shorts. Rest assured, we’re actively looking into this! We’ll update this thread with new information as soon as it becomes available. Thanks for your patience!”
If you’re experiencing poor video quality on YouTube, keep checking the above-mentioned support thread for updates on when the fix will roll out.
