Summary
- Some YouTube users are experiencing low video quality, specifically at 144p or 360p.
- This is occurring despite a strong internet connection and is affecting iOS devices, desktop users, and smart TVs.
- Google is aware of the issue but there is no fix yet.
YouTube is the go-to video streaming platform for most people. There are millions of hours of content, and all YouTube asks is that you watch some ads to support the platform and creators. If you want an ad-free experience, that’s also an option thanks to the availability of the brand’s Premium and Lite membership tiers.
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For the most part, you just pop open the app and just watch your favorite creators or endlessly scroll through YouTube Shorts if you want to catch some quick clips that are fun and interesting. However, it appears that some users are now experiencing problems with YouTube videos streaming in low quality — and we’re not talking 480p here.
This is bad, really bad
YouTube has shared through its support website that it is aware of an issue where some streams are occurring at 144p or 360p, despite having a strong internet connection. For most, this is going to result in a blurry picture that can’t really be enjoyed. While users would normally just beef up the quality to 1080p or higher, it appears that making that change causes the video to buffer.
This problem is being seen on iOS devices, desktop web browsers, and through smart TVs. Sadly, there isn’t a fix quite yet, but Google is looking into it. For now, we’re not seeing too many complaints when checking Reddit, but folks are definitely chiming in on DownDetector and on the YouTube Help page.
It’s hard to know just how many people are affected, but this could be a problem that could be pretty widespread. It’s unclear at the moment what’s causing this or if there’s a solid workaround, but if you’re seeing this while watching YouTube, you might be better off just coming back to the app once the problem has been fixed.
It might also be possible just to navigate to the YouTube web page and watch videos from there without any issues, but again, you’ll have to try it to see whether it works for you. For those that want up-to-the-minute coverage, you can keep an eye on the YouTube Help page to get the latest details. YouTube shares that it will make updates there about the situation when available.
