Is Youtube Buffering Slowly for Everyone Lately?

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SUMMARY

Users have reported significant buffering issues with YouTube videos over the past week, particularly during peak hours in the Eastern Standard Time (EST) zone. Despite having a stable internet connection and successful streaming from other platforms, users experience random buffering delays on YouTube, affecting both HD and lower resolution videos. Attempts to resolve the issue, such as clearing cache and switching browsers (Firefox, Chrome), have proven ineffective. Some users speculate that the problem may be linked to YouTube's server load or its distributed storage and queuing system.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of internet bandwidth and speed metrics
  • Familiarity with video streaming technologies
  • Knowledge of browser cache management
  • Basic skills in network troubleshooting
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  • Investigate YouTube's server status and performance metrics during peak hours
  • Learn about network packet filtering techniques to potentially improve streaming
  • Explore browser extensions or settings that optimize video playback
  • Research user experiences and solutions regarding YouTube buffering issues
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Internet users experiencing buffering issues on YouTube, network administrators looking to optimize streaming performance, and anyone interested in understanding video delivery systems.

WannabeNewton
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Is anyone else having a problem specifically with the buffer rate of youtube videos during the past week (particularly at peak hours EST)? Video streaming from various other sites (e.g. yahoo) works just fine and I can browse and download things from websites as fast as I always could but when I try to watch youtube videos, the buffer speed starts to become really random. Certain videos take forever to buffer and keep stopping and loading whereas other videos load just fine. This has only been happening during the past week or so. So yeah, anyone else with the same problem? Is it a youtube server issue? I tried clearing the cache and rebooting like a billion times but it isn't helping (not even temporarily). The problem is occurring with every computer in my house. I tried accessing youtube using various browsers (firefox, chrome etc.) but the problem persists.
 
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I've actually noticed the same issue. I was trying to watch some longer videos last night, and it was stopping to buffer so often, that I just paused the video and left my computer for like 5 minutes so it could load. I had to do this a couple times. I haven't really noticed any issues with any other sites running slowly. I'm using Firefox.
 
I hear ya. Like right now youtube is working just fine, because it is 3 AM so the traffic isn't as high as far as the east coast is concerned, but tomorrow afternoon / evening it will most likely be back to its annoying state of buffering over and over for every other video, just like the past few days. It's really pissing me off because literally everything else internet-wise is working just perfectly-it's just youtube that is being a pain.
 
No idea about exact hours, but I have similar problems. Quite often it sends just a few initial seconds and then hangs up. And it is a relatively new thing, last week or two.
 
Strange. I have this problem since months/years. But now that I have upgraded my internet connection (about 10 times faster than before), I notice it more. Sometimes when I want to watch a video in 480p/720p, the video won't load at all, or very slowly. I refresh the page and usually the buffering is incredibly fast. Sometimes refreshing makes no difference. And yeah my connection is just fine, the problem is youtube for sure.

Edit: I tried to browse some videos in France (my mother has an ultra fast internect connection), I also had this problem. Extremely slow to none buffering for HD videos. I don't remember if refreshing was fixing things though.
 
It seems to be fixed now, as soon as the comedy week thing ended. Weird. I don't know if it is a temporary fix or not.
 
it's the distributive nature of youtube's storage and queuing system. if you know how to block IPs on your firewall, rejecting packets from certain ones may speed up the streaming process but i haven't tested this so i don't know how well it actually works. though people have reported improved playback speeds. you can google which ranges to block and try it yourself
 
I tried doing that already actually, it didn't help unfortunately. And now the problem is back :[
 

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