When you’re super interested in a new video your favorite YouTuber just released, the last thing you want to deal with is buffering or a playback error. It’s annoying, it’s frustrating and it can be fixed. If you’re constantly seeing notifications saying an error has occurred, the connection to the server was lost or something else went wrong, then it’s time to do something about it.
For general users, there are a couple of ways how you can reduce the buffering time or eliminate the network error issue. That is by clearing the cache of YouTube, changing the video quality or by simply subscribing to YouTube Premium. Here’s how you to it.
Clearing cached data:
1. On the phone, desktop or tablet open Chrome browser.
2. Tap on the three-line options menu.
3. On phone, tap on History > Clear browsing data. On the desktop, click on More Tools > Clear Browsing Data.
4. Android, Mac and PC users can select the time range for deleting data. This is not available on iPhones.
5. Select the options – Cookies and site data and Cached images and files.
6. Tap on Clear data.
Change the video quality
1. You can change the video quality of the YouTube video by tapping on the gear icon on the bottom right corner of the screen or top right corner.
2. You can switch to a lower resolution for the video to load faster.
3. This feature is also available on the desktop.
Subscribe to YouTube Premium
1. In case you are still not able to watch the video online. Subscribing to YouTube Premium will give you the option to download it and view it offline without facing any issues.
For nerds, YouTube has a special tool called ‘Stats for nerds’ that shows users details on the connection speed, buffer health and the network activity while the video is being streamed. This is not a solution but will definitely help users in determining the issue. Here’s how you can see it.
2. In the YouTube video on the desktop, right-click and select ‘Stats for nerds’.
3. Check the network speed, frames, optional resolution, network activity, buffer health and more from the pop-up window that shows up on the corner of the screen. It is also possible to access it on the YouTube app.
4. On iPhone tap on Settings inside the app and turn on the ‘Enable stats for nerds’ option.
5. On Android, tap on Settings, General and Enable Stats for nerds.
Source :GADGETSNOW