YouTube will default to standard definition video worldwide for a month

24 March 2020
Initially this was supposed to happen only in Europe, but the company changed its mind.

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  • n
  • nickless
  • AeX
  • 24 Apr 2020

what is this

    This doesn't apear to impact me at all. My tv/pc both play in 4k everytime when available and phone always in 1440p. The latter is with mobile data or home wifi.

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      • Daniel Lugo
      • vxs
      • 26 Mar 2020

      My YouTube app is already defaulted to standard definition even though the update hasn't been rolled out yet.

        Anonymous, 25 Mar 2020Its wrong concept.. u pay for bandwidth, hence its operator... moreISPs are run like gymnasiums. They sell a service they can't provide. My old gym, £330 life membership. One day, 25yrs ago I had to ask, how the hell is their a profit in it. Owner told me straight, only a tiny percentage, like 5%, ever turn up regularly, each week. They sold thousands of memberships. ISPs sell a service they simply cannot provide. My ISP is famous for it, they offer 300Mb/s yet cannot provide that to all. They frequently have congestion issues, and that was before this.

          Its not about YouTube but also about network operators, people aren't just using YouTube but also Netflix and whatnot maybe even multiple services at the same time, say Netflix on TV, YouTube on their phone and some other service on their tablet. All this will result in network congestion.

            How about there should be a setting in the app that allows users to choose the default resolution to use when watching videos? Perhaps that would be a great help.

              This is a horrible feature, it should not be permanent.

              We have to change video quality every time, i watch lot of you tube on my smart phone & tablet.

                talha5007, 25 Mar 2020I bet you haven't read entire article before leaving your c... moreI really didn't read the article properly with understanding

                I thought this was the same with bit rate cutting that I saw happening in other countries with bandwidth restrictions

                  • O
                  • Oneplus loled
                  • 61x
                  • 25 Mar 2020

                  Phylyp, 25 Mar 2020Gotta agree with your last paragraph. I don't think we've s... moreYou can't undersgand the world by only understanding Europe. Asia is the second worst affected by corona after europe and you may say taiwan, south korea or japan has one of the fastest internet but you forget people live in on Thailand, cambodia or sri lanka would definitely appreciate this.

                    Adul Al Salami Kebab, 25 Mar 2020ISPs sucks is the short version! :DSmart guy! Now I get it, these streaming services are helping weaker ISPs to deal with increased traffic.

                      It's something that i really want. i Mean really, i'm okay with 360p and 480p because i have a data limit, so actually i hate it when YouTube automatically change it to 720p or 1080p knowing that i have a fast internet. Yeah it's fast, but it's limited so i choose to not waste it on single video

                        • ?
                        • Anonymous
                        • Kxr
                        • 25 Mar 2020

                        Was watching 4K60 this morning.
                        No big deal to switch resolutions.

                          Hopefully someone will make a Chrome extension that defaults the video resolution at FHD lol.

                            • A
                            • Adul Al Salami Kebab
                            • pcL
                            • 25 Mar 2020

                            T M, 25 Mar 2020Sigh... Log off.Im happy with 720p or 1080p on my phones... :)

                              • A
                              • Adul Al Salami Kebab
                              • pcL
                              • 25 Mar 2020

                              ISPs sucks is the short version! :D

                                What a weird decision! First they said because they have less people working, some content would be automatically deleted. Now this comes... :(

                                  • p
                                  • picky
                                  • ix1
                                  • 25 Mar 2020

                                  LAME

                                    • ?
                                    • Anonymous
                                    • u7V
                                    • 25 Mar 2020

                                    Ha jokes on you. I'm usually on 240p/360p since I only have 1 Mbps unlimited 4G data as my main internet access.

                                      • M
                                      • Max
                                      • LaE
                                      • 25 Mar 2020

                                      In the absence of a firm quote concerning its objective necessity, I'm calling utter bullshit on there being any _actual_ bandwidth problems. Yes, there has been much noise made about _preemptive_ measures for the same thing because obviously politicians need to be seen as doing something, and since this is something (and there's nothing _actually_ useful they can do) it obviously MUST be done whether it's actually of any use or not.

                                        • C
                                        • Carmanen
                                        • mtn
                                        • 25 Mar 2020

                                        Shanti Dope, 25 Mar 2020Jokes on them, the first thing I always do before watching ... moreExactly! I always do the same.

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