Troubleshoot video streaming issues
YouTube video streaming issues can be caused by many factors. By troubleshooting your internet or device connection, you may be able to play your videos again.
You may be experiencing a video streaming issue if you’ve seen one of these notifications:
- An error has occurred.
- Playback error. Tap to retry.
- Connection to server lost.
- This video is unavailable.
- Something went wrong. Tap to Retry.
Troubleshoot internet and device connection
You may be able to play your YouTube videos again by following the steps below for internet and device connections.
Internet speed
The quality of your home or cell-phone network can affect how smoothly YouTube videos play, and whether videos play in HD. To find out if your Internet Service Provider is HD Verified, visit the Video Quality Report.
The table below shows the approximate speeds recommended to play each video format. The actual speed that your device receives may vary from the number you see when you run an 'Internet speed test.' This is due to factors including WiFi performance, time of day, and how your ISP connects to YouTube. If there are multiple devices on your network, then the connection is shared between them which may reduce the speed that your device receives.
|
Video Resolution |
Recommended sustained speed |
|---|---|
| 4K | 20 Mbps |
| HD 1080p | 5 Mbps |
| HD 720p | 2.5 Mbps |
| SD 480p | 1.1 Mbps |
| SD 360p | 0.7 Mbps |
If you're interested in seeing more information on how your videos are streaming, check out Stats for Nerds.
Smart TVs, Chromecast, and game consoles
- Restart the YouTube app.
- Restart your device: hard reboot (disconnect power and reconnect).
- Open youtube.com/tv in Chrome and attempt the same action(s).
- For game consoles: Uninstall and reinstall the YouTube app.
- Update your device’s firmware/system software.
Follow the instructions below for the YouTube app or mobile site.
YouTube app
- Restart the YouTube app.
- Restart your device.
- Turn off and on your mobile data connection.
- Clear the YouTube app’s cache.
- Uninstall and reinstall the YouTube app.
- Update to the newest available version of the YouTube app.
- Update to the newest available version of Android.
Mobile site
- Restart your mobile browser.
- Restart your device.