No one, and we mean, no one, enjoys video buffering. Especially if you’ve waited for the latest blockbuster hit to be uploaded in the best resolution, and you’re unfortunately stuck staring at the screen, waiting for the video to buffer.
In fact, video buffering is a frustrating consequence when it comes to streaming online videos. Simply because, we expect the video to run smoothly, without any form of interruption. But, streaming is just something on another level.
Buffering is something that happens when you download an amount of data before ultimately playing the video. The most common reason that leads to video buffering is that the internet is too slow when needed to download a certain amount of data for the video to play.
When you’re watching a video online, even if it’s a YouTube video, you can come across buffering problems. The entire buffering process varies based on the duration of the video and the amount of data within it.
Let’s take a look at how you can avoid buffering problems, or at least minimize the amount of buffering whenever you’re streaming a movie online.
Close Other Programs and Applications
If your computer or laptop seems to be performing one too many tasks, or simply running a number of programs all at the same time, it may not have the capacity to stream an online video without having to buffer.
Even if there are applications running in the background, minimized or doing nothing, they end up consuming the system resources. For instance, an application may carry on pinging the internet for further updates, or continue downloading data in the background without you even noticing.
You are likely to encounter such situations with a browser that has multiple tabs open on it. Moreover, video games also tend to drain your system resources in a quiet manner. Hence, if you do have buffering problems, close software that isn’t being used.
However, this is a little tricky if you’re unaware of the apps that run your background processes, without having the need to be opened. A much easier and effective way is to use a Cleanup service to shut all the resource drainers.
Reduce Video Quality
We understand this may not be an ideal situation, but it’s without a doubt an effective way to overcome buffering problems. The larger the video file, the longer you can expect to wait until it transits to your laptop or computer.
Netflix, YouTube, and a number of other online video streams have a range of video resolution for you to choose prime. Simply take a look at the player’s setting to manage the resolution of the video stream.
As a matter of fact, it’s a great idea to reduce the video resolution, especially if you’re watching the video on a smaller screen, like a smartphone. Because in all honesty, your eyes can barely notice the difference between a 720pm and 1080p video.
Hence, if 1080p is causing your video to buffer non-stop, go ahead and drop the resolution to 720p, you can thank us later.
Clean Your Browser Settings
We often blame our internet connection when it comes to video buffering. However, the problem may be your computer itself, the web browser particularly. Browsers do in fact maintain a local cache for all the sites you’ve visited.
That benign said, when you revisit one of these websites, the browser will check the chance, and if the content on it is current, it ends up loading it from the cache than downloading it. So what the problem with it?
Well, they will have your browser overload with many cached and temporary data, which eventually slows it down. Therefore, as a result, one of the easiest ways to fix eh buffering problem is to simply clean your browser.
This involves wiping the browser history and clearing the cookies. Because, a streamlined browser is bound to run in a much faster manner, and will also reduce the video buffering time for you.
Reset or Upgrade the Wi-Fi Device
Most people tend to set up their Wi-Fi router and then simply forget all about it. However, the router needs to be maintained on a regular basis. Check with the manufacturer about the router’s firmware updates.
Also, it never hurts to conduct a hard reset every now and then by pulling the power cord and off the device, and plugging it back in after a few seconds. If none of this works, you may need to upgrade the device.
The Google Nest Wifi Point is a good option if you’re looking for an upgrade.
Conclusion
These are some of the best ways to help you get rid of the buffering problem once and for all. Give it a try, and we hope at least of these methods works for you!
