# Question about streaming video on line.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-streaming-video-on-line/611444>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 1, 2012, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-streaming-video-on-line/611444 "2012-02-01T18:17:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Stelios](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Stelios](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stelios)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-streaming-video-on-line/611444/1 "2012-02-01T18:17:28Z")

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Why is it that, sometimes, I can watch a YouTube video and it plays perfectly, but other times, I can watch that same video and it’s all jerky, and plays like bad animation with half the frames taken out? Is there a reason for this? My browser is Firefox, by the way. Thanks.

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**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-streaming-video-on-line/611444/2 "2012-02-01T19:31:22Z")

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watching streaming video will all depend on the speed available for data between you and the source. watching streaming video on your browser will depend on how busy and well functioning your browser is at the moment.

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**Author:** ![George329](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@George329](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/George329)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-streaming-video-on-line/611444/3 "2012-02-01T21:48:54Z")

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The video stream is sent as a series of individual packets over the internet which are then assembled and rendered as video on your computer. If certain packets don’t arrive in time, for example due to poor network conditions, your video will appear jerky or even freeze or cease playing. Ideally your computer will receive packets faster than it can “play” them, in which case they’re buffered on your computer - I use the term computer loosely since most of this is handled by software in your operating system and browser/app.

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**Author:** ![Stelios](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Stelios](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stelios)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-streaming-video-on-line/611444/4 "2012-02-01T21:51:27Z")

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Nice one. Very clear. Thanks guys!

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**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-streaming-video-on-line/611444/5 "2012-02-01T23:05:32Z")

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I don’t think those answers are correct. The part of the YouTube video you’re watching is completely downloaded before the player plays it. If it doesn’t have the part you need yet, it will pause, and you’ll get the spinning buffering symbol. It’s not like HDTV, where if you miss a bit, the show just continues in real-time.

If you’re getting frame drop-outs, it’s because your processor can’t keep up with rendering them all, so it discards them, to keep up with the video. This can happen if your processor is overloaded by other tasks, or if it gets too warm, and its speed has been throttled back to avoid damage.