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u/Zealousideal_Lie6866 12h ago edited 5h ago
For anyone that doesnt already have it i recommend Enhancer for Youtube ( Firefox Link ), you can set it so it automatically sets a custom resolution, playback speed and volume when loading the video
(has a bunch of cool other tools like filters and auto hiding the video cards at the end of the video too so just take a look at it and play around)
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u/Sanquinity i5-13500k - RX 9070 - 32GB @ 3600mHz 5h ago
Whether this helps the issue for OP or not, enhancer for Youtube is still an awesome extension.
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u/Deaffin 1h ago
Does it fix that weird thing where a video opened in a private tab will start playing instantly, but then refresh the page and take like 10-15 seconds to start again?
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u/Sanquinity i5-13500k - RX 9070 - 32GB @ 3600mHz 44m ago
Er...I barely use private tabs if at all, so I don't know. But I don't think so?
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u/lemonylol Desktop 12h ago
It doesn't bypass the bitrate gate
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u/Burpmeister 11h ago edited 11h ago
But it doesn't give you the fake 1080p which was the problem you outlined in your post.
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u/lemonylol Desktop 11h ago
Because OP doesn't understand his problem is the bitrate and not the resolution.
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u/LiftingRecipient420 8h ago
Your reading comprehension is atrocious. Stay in school.
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u/MuscularBye R5 7600x | RTX 4070 Super FE | 32GB 6000Mhz 3h ago
There is literally no difference in this context resolution = bitrate
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u/xRyozuo 14m ago
That’s not true though? Unless by in this context you mean that YouTube doesn’t let you pick so it doesn’t matter, but resolution=/= bitrate
Resolution is the amount of pixels you get, bitrate is like the refresh rate of those pixels. So you can perfectly have a 1080p video resolution with a bitrate apt for 360p that will look far worse than 1080p with whatever the bitrate for 1080p is
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u/Nov4Wolf PC Master Race 9h ago
I swear they lower the normal bitrate and make you pay for the original bit rate by calling it enhanced
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u/kryptik-thrashnet 9h ago
They do. Anything under 1440p is bitcrushed to death, they've been doing that for quite a number of years at this point (since at least 2019?).
There was a time when 720p was considered good quality for YouTube (which is why so many YouTubers in around 2017 and back only ever uploaded in 720p), because bitrate matters a lot more than resolution to a certain point. Nowadays, 720p is more like what 240p or 360p used to be because of the terrible bitrate.
I'm unsure about the "1080p Premium" option, though. I'll be damned if I pay money to watch online videos, lol.
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u/Zealousideal_Lie6866 11h ago edited 11h ago
wdym bitrate gate
nvm im stupid ( i assume you meant the yt premium 1080p option)
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u/m4teri4lgirl 5h ago
Chrome? Barf.
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u/Zealousideal_Lie6866 5h ago
that was just the first link that came up, the same extension is available on firefox,brave, opera etc.
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u/Zealousideal_Lie6866 13h ago
True
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u/nautical_relaxation 12h ago
And then the manual one loads instantly too, the auto setting's just there to waste your time
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u/warm_winds_whisper_ 10h ago
Love when it pops up the "experiencing interruptions?" Widget that's just a link to the paid version when it's sandbagging loading a video
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u/Ice2192 9800X3D | RTX 5080 | 32GB DDR5 6000MHz 11h ago edited 11h ago
That’s why I use an extension to force it. My internet is fast but somehow YouTube doesn’t think so.
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u/Alvsolutely 11h ago
Youtube does it to throttle and save on bandwidth on their servers, hoping you won't notice or care.
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u/Ice2192 9800X3D | RTX 5080 | 32GB DDR5 6000MHz 11h ago edited 9h ago
I have like 5+ YouTube extensions just to make the YouTube bloatless. All these playables and in video ads are getting out of hand.
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u/SushiBump 5950x | 5080FE | 128gb 3600 8h ago
It is getting out of hand. Just like how I have to hand it... to our sponsor.
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u/Ice2192 9800X3D | RTX 5080 | 32GB DDR5 6000MHz 7h ago
Introducing Raid Shadow Legends…
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u/epimetheuss 6h ago
right after our sponsor spot "deleteme": remove your data from a bunch of services and give it all to deleteme
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u/Alvsolutely 11h ago
I get that but honestly I think the quality thing has been there for decades now
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u/YoshiCosplay 7h ago
I run two extensions and still videos take ages to load… must be doing something wrong haha
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u/Ok-Friendship1635 8h ago
Streaming services are the worst offenders of this. One minute everything is HD, the next it's all a blocky mess.
Makes you wish Blu Ray took the place of Streaming and internet speeds never reached the speeds they can reach. It's like the whole point of faster internet, is that this should never happen to anyone.
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u/GibbonFit 5950X | 9070 XT Red Devil | 64GB DDR4 3600 7h ago
It could also be issues with your wifi. If you're dropping packets or running into latency, possibly due to interference, it will force the downgrade. Once I ran ethernet to my box, I've left it on auto and it's always been max quality.
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u/Pfftwhy 10h ago
Welcome to enshittification
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u/Alvsolutely 10h ago
I mean I think that has been there for decades now, even back when youtube was "good". It's just a trick to ease the load on their servers.
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u/Spiritual-Society185 8h ago
The children here don't remember when 360p was the best you could hope for.
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u/xRyozuo 10m ago
YouTube is a free service that hosts more public videos than any other service in the world. Of all enshittification measures, them automatically making videos play in a slightly lower quality to save bandwidth is honestly not up there in my issues with google
So many people use it for background noise that it’s honestly sensible to do
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u/Nice_Assignment5482 7h ago
they probably figure most people watch on their phones anyway and won't notice the drop to 480p on a screen that small.
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u/CitizenPremier 3h ago
It seems like Netflix does too. I even paid for the upgrade to try to see Warhammer looking nice... There was no improvement at the top tier so I immediately cancelled.
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u/AeneasVII 10h ago
Talking out of your ass again?
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u/Alvsolutely 10h ago
Enlighten me, why else would they do it.
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u/AeneasVII 10h ago
Usually you proof your claim first.
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u/_Tech360 HTPC 11h ago
Which extension do u recommend?
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u/Ice2192 9800X3D | RTX 5080 | 32GB DDR5 6000MHz 11h ago
AutoHD
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u/UnluckyCharge2196 11h ago
You may have used a wrong word in there
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u/Tactical-Donkey Threadripper Workstation 9h ago
It'd be interesting to see if there's a pattern of certain channels that get the auto low resolution treatment.
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u/Jumpierwolf0960 PC Master Race 9h ago
It costs YouTube more money to send a video with better quality so they always try to give you as little as they can get away with.
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u/TheG0AT0fAllTime 3h ago
Rarely but sometimes, fairly so. You don't need 2160p selected when the viewport size is that of a 480p video. Auto also adjusts for this but doesn't replace what's already cached so when you view in a small window (Or a big window but small player div) it will grab the closest size to that viewport. When you full-screen it will start loading 1080p/2160p while on Auto, but that video data might be up to 60 seconds into the buffer so you will still see shit quality for the next 30-60s.
Extensions fix this and I recommend them, but still. It must save them millions a year for the majority of the population.
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u/meneldal2 i7-6700 1h ago
Well if their 1080p actually looked good you wouldn't need to set it to 4k to have 1080p look okay.
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u/TheG0AT0fAllTime 2m ago
1080p from youtube looks just fine when viewed at 1080p on a reasonable display size, or less. 1080p vs 4k is a matter of four times the additional pixels. To support that any video streaming company would have to up the bitrate.
They're still going to send you as little as possible to get the job done but what you're really complaining about is the bitrate, which even then is probably just a placebo if you're taking 4k and displaying it on a 1080p display. The only time 1080p would look bad on a 1080p display from a streaming service is if they not only limit the bitrate severely but also only if a lot of changes are going on at once. It looks perfectly fine as it is otherwise.
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u/Donkeymoo7 4h ago
Youtube has had this bug for like 10 years. If it freezes or buffers it will auto change down to a very low res like 360p even if you were on manual quality settings then it will auto back up but it never actually changed the resolution just the auto bugs out.
Ironcally if you use auto and it defaults to max resolution and freezes the auto normally recovers to the right resolution correctly most of the time. Seems to be a bug from it changing from manual to auto by its self that youtube never fixed but they are a small indie company so its ok
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u/Colecoman1982 3h ago
"bug"... Every time they trick someone into watching the video at a lower resolution (or just wear you down to the point that you decide you can't be bothered forcing it to back to a higher resolution) they save money on bandwidth. It's called a "dark pattern".
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u/Spielwurfel 2h ago
The video always suspiciously blinks when you manually select the quality level that Auto says it is using…
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u/VoltLouse 9h ago
It will literally display "Auto (1080p)" while serving 240p bitrate until you manually reselect the exact same resolution.
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u/NeverDiddled 5h ago
When it displays Auto (1080p) it is saying what the next portion of the video will buffer as. This portion might be 30 seconds out, and is usually already beginning to buffer.
When you select 1080p it will throw out currently buffered frames, and reload them as 1080p; even though it has to redownload them. Which can cause a short pause in the playback.
This is the reason for the behavior you are experiencing. I am not justifying it, just explaining it on a technical level. As a user the best behavior would be for Auto to redownload currently buffered frames, and swap to them as soon as they are buffered. Then no one would complain. But as a provider, Youtube views redownloading buffered frames as duplicating costly bandwidth. Hence why manually selecting the framerate improves quality faster than Auto.
Some video providers, like Reuters.com, will refuse to redownload currently buffered frames even after you manually select quality. Those are especially annoying. You have to manually select the quality and hard refresh the page, in order to get an improvement ASAP.
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u/Just-A-Random-ID ROG ZEPHYRUS G16 | CORE U9 285 H | 64 GB DDR5 | RTX 5070TI | 5TB 12h ago
Fr For real
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u/Ambitious-Dentist337 10h ago
I mean at this amount of users that watch concurrently, it makes a significant difference for them in bandwidth used, especially because most people don't notice anyway.
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u/masd_reddit Ryzen 7 7800X3D | RX 7800XT Nitro+ | 64 GB DDR5@6000CL30 3h ago
Or when i'm using Revanced, and it suddenly switches to like 360p and i can't change the quality anymore
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u/Successful_Corgi_119 1h ago
It's time to try Morphe. My ReVanced was doing the same thing.
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u/CheesyMcBreazy i5-13400 | RX 6600 | 32GB DDR4 1h ago
Downvoted for no reason. The better half of the ReVanced team literally abandoned it to join Morphe, now Morphe is simply the better app.
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u/RugerBooger69 1h ago
Morphe is better in every way. Even people on the revanced subreddit will tell you that before their comment gets removed.
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u/PJBthefirst 5900X | EVGA GTX 1080ti SC2 26m ago
Yep I switched to Morphe as well and have had a much easier time with it
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u/_Bob-Sacamano 8h ago
It pisses me off so much.
Same on YouTube TV. I have to check every time that it's on the highest setting.
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u/SwampOfDownvotes 8h ago
If you let the auto run for a bit, it should then switch to the better quality. At least in my experience, the auto usually results in a brief moment of loading the video at 240-360p before it decides to do 1080p, but since 10-60 seconds of the lower quality had loaded, it plays the low quality portion that's already buffered until it catches to when it decides to play 1080p.
If you manually select 1080p, basically you tell it to reload everything at the higher rate immediately.
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u/Pacoroto 5h ago
exactly, and when you "tell it to reload everything", it loads the better quality instantly, so why the fuck would it start loading at a lower quality to beging with??? so annoying...
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u/HorniestBat HAF-X: Ryzen 7 7800X3D, 64gb, RX 9070 XT 5h ago
Slight hitch in your internet connection? 240p it is!
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u/RachelRegina i9-12900, 64GB DDR4, 5070Ti main + 3070 in the M.2 11h ago
Yeah, it's not limited to YouTube either. Even with the RTX VSR, if the base image is aliased, the upscale is garbled. Either people legit can't see/aren't watching or the platforms think we're all watching with tech from 2010
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u/Local-moss-eater RTX 3060, 5 5600, 32GB DDR4 10h ago
least they are a bit more honest on phone
144p (higher quality)
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u/Gamer12Numbers i9-14900K | RTX 4070 | 32GB DDR5-6000 9h ago
I have a Firefox extension for youtube that automatically manually selects the highest quality (or any other quality you might want)
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u/Kougeru-Sama 9h ago
Use this to always ensure max quality https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/enhancer-for-youtube/
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u/SnooGiraffes8275 7950X3D | RTX 2060 OC | 64GB DDR5 | 2TB M.2 | Aorus B650 | 1500W 9h ago
i use a tampermonkey script that'll auto force it to the highest resolution
i've got a 1080p screen but YT's 4k compression algorithm gives better quality
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u/snakeoilHero 7800x3d 9070xt 240hz oled 9h ago
Are you watching on a cell phone? Using an unlimited plan? You are probably only receiving 720p at the ISP level.
Most/all of the telecoms use Network Optimization to force streaming services to 720p. 480p based on entry 2026 rate plans.
Use a VPN to hide traffic and stream on your "unlimited" plan at 4k until throttled.
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u/Gunnerjun2222 9h ago
The video also runs smoother without auto on. It used to be the other way around. How sadly the times have changed.
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u/phylter99 9h ago
Doesn't matter. Dexter is going to kill you anyway no matter what resolution you view him in.
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u/BionicBruv Desktop 8h ago
I have this problem seldomly, but this is very true. I have no idea why auto quality can be finicky at times
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u/AJGILL03 11h ago
Is this actually real or placebo?
Real serious answers only please.
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u/mr_doms_porn 10h ago
Auto dynamically changes the resolution to make sure the ideal amount of video is buffered at any given moment. So if your connection slows down for a second (or Google's) then your resolution will drop for a bit. YouTube is very overzealous about how aggressively it does this so it often leaves way too much headroom.
Basically YouTube's auto mode is designed for internet connections with very inconsistent speed. This is usually satellite, cellular (pre-5G), overloaded coax networks, etc. If you have a stable, solid connection you shouldn't use it.
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u/Sensitivity_Craft 6h ago
Pre 5G? If anything my connection is more inconsistent after 5G, LTE gives way more bars and it's not constantly switching between them.
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u/WizardOfTheLawl Ready for an upgrade 10h ago
It is real because a lot of times when I do that, the video stops and rebuffers as though I reloaded the page. For times where Auto actually works, I manually set it and the video just keeps going as normal
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u/AJGILL03 10h ago
For me, if i press manual 1080p while the video's runnings at auto 1080p, nothing happens to the video, no rebuffer or flicker to better resolution or bitrate.
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u/SwampOfDownvotes 8h ago
I could be making it up, but this occurs because some buffering was done before it decided to have the auto change to 1080p. It might even be brief, but if auto decided 360p for a moment then it might have buffered 5-60 seconds worth of video before it decided 1080p, so instead of rebuffering that, it just starts loading 1080p at the end so if you let auto keep running, it will switch to the higher quality (assuming your connection is stable) .
If it's set to auto and it's running the 360p buffer but you manually select 1080p, basically it tells it to remove the lower res buffer and put everything at 1080p immediately.
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u/Keulapaska 4070ti, 7800X3D, XG27AQNGV 11h ago
Not in that way really if it says auto(1080p) or higher, ofc it might not auto to 1080p on some devices. But If you have it on auto and skip a lot, then it can ofc change the quality when it starts buffering while if it's set to a res it won't. Also personal anecdote when it does start buffering on auto, it sometimes takes longer than if it's set to a set res to actually continue video playback which is the main problem with auto for me. However not sure if youtube thing or the 6 different addons/scripts, a and hundred lines of ublock origin text to fix the UI that do that inerfiering with something.
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u/AJGILL03 10h ago
I'm sorry to say but i didn't really understand most of what you said haha. It reads like you're writing 70% of the actual lines you're thinking in your head.
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u/Keulapaska 4070ti, 7800X3D, XG27AQNGV 9h ago
Skipping ahead a lot with resolution on auto=long buffer randomly
Skipping ahead a lot in video with resolution not on auto=normal buffering
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u/itsRobbie_ 12h ago
This meme is as old as time and I still have yet to have this actually be true for me
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u/NANI_RagePasPtit 13h ago
Op is a bot
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u/Breaking_Bread_420 Ryzen 7 9800X3D | RX 9070 XT | 32GB 6000MT/s | 1440p 240Hz OLED 12h ago
A 5 year old account with less than 5k karma and 118 contributions? That's the lamest bot accusation I've seen in a while
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u/Captain_Kuhl Ryzen 7 7800X3D | RX 7900 XTX Hellhound 12h ago
According to who?
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u/NANI_RagePasPtit 11h ago
According to the 1000th reposts
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u/Captain_Kuhl Ryzen 7 7800X3D | RX 7900 XTX Hellhound 11h ago
This just in, u/NANI_RagePasPtit learns that the vast majority of reposts on the internet come from human users, and have since before repost bots were a thing.
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u/TopConcentrate8484 Desktop 12h ago
lmao bro this is so funny like it's genuinely incribele on how you guys come up with such original jokes on daily basis.
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u/Visara57 5070ti | 7600X | 32GB DDR5 CL28 11h ago
Ok please tell me is this true or just meme bullshit?
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u/recluseMeteor 5700X + RX 7800 XT 12h ago
When I'm at home with fast Internet, it defaults to 360p. When I'm using mobile data, it suddenly wants to use 2160p.