Change the quality of your video

To give you the best viewing experience, YouTube changes the quality of your video stream based on your viewing conditions. These conditions are why you may notice that the quality of your video changes as you watch videos.

Here are some factors that decide video quality:

1. The speed of your internet connection
2. Video player/screen size: Higher-quality videos generally play better on larger screens.
3. Quality of the original uploaded video: If the video was recorded in standard definition, it won't be available in high definition.

Note: Some browsers don't support newer video formats or quality options. Learn more on missing quality options.

Change video quality

You can manually change the video quality of any video that you're watching on a computer, TV or mobile device.

How to change the quality of a video you’re watching

TV

To change video quality while watching on your TV:

1. In the video player, select Settings .
2. Select Quality.
3. Select your preferred video quality.

Note: Some high-quality formats (for example, 1080p, 4K) may not be available for all devices, as they may not support the latest video compression technology (VP9).

Save mobile data

 

Data usage is how much data your phone uploads or downloads using mobile data. To make sure that you're not using too much data on your data plan, you can update certain settings.

 

Manage data-saving settings

You can set YouTube to save mobile data with data-saving mode. Turning on data-saving mode will adjust default settings, which include: 

• Reducing video quality
• Reducing download quality
• Only downloading when connected to Wi-Fi or unrestricted mobile data, 
• Only uploading when connected to Wi-Fi 
• Only showing muted playback in feeds when connected to Wi-Fi

1. Tap your profile picture .
2. Tap Settings .
3. Tap Data saving.
4. Turn on Data-saving mode.

Select the video quality of each video before watching

You can better control data usage by turning on 'Select quality for every video'. This feature will enable you to preview any video and select the desired video quality before watching.

1. Tap your profile picture .
2. Tap Settings .
3. Tap Data saving.
4. Turn on Select quality for every video.

Change the default video quality of all videos that you're watching

You can change the default quality for all the videos that you watch.

1. Tap your profile picture .
2. Tap Settings .
3. Tap Video quality preferences.
4. Select your preferred video quality for mobile networks and on Wi-Fi:

• Auto (recommended): Changes to give you the best experience for your conditions.
• Higher picture quality: Uses more data so videos may take longer to start or may buffer more often.
• Data saver: Lower picture quality, but videos may start faster.