# Why does the video and audio of YouTube videos get out of synch if you pause for a long time? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 7, 2015, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-video-and-audio-of-youtube-videos-get-out-of-synch-if-you-pause-for-a-long-time/721868 "2015-06-07T05:22:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2015, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-video-and-audio-of-youtube-videos-get-out-of-synch-if-you-pause-for-a-long-time/721868/1 "2015-06-07T05:22:03Z")
I’ll stop watching a YouTube video midway and come back to it later. If I wait more than, say, 30 minutes, the audio almost is always lagging behind the video. I don’t get it. There should be a time code for the audio and a time code for the video that automatically match once you press play again, no? BTW, I use Firefox. First World problems and all, but it’s annoying to have to reload the video and find the right place again. (Sometimes it automatically reloads at about the right spot. Whether it does or not seems kinda random.) Thanks for your answers! ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2015, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-video-and-audio-of-youtube-videos-get-out-of-synch-if-you-pause-for-a-long-time/721868/2 "2015-06-07T17:37:52Z")
No one knows?! ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2015, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-video-and-audio-of-youtube-videos-get-out-of-synch-if-you-pause-for-a-long-time/721868/3 "2015-06-07T19:14:33Z")
I don’t know about the why, but there’s an easy workaround. When you’re going to walk away, click pause and then click Share and check the “Start at \” box. That’ll give you a link with a timecode that you can copy and paste into the address bar when you’re ready to watch again. Also, try switching to the HTML5 player if you’re not already using it: [https://www.youtube.com/html5](https://www.youtube.com/html5) ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2015, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-video-and-audio-of-youtube-videos-get-out-of-synch-if-you-pause-for-a-long-time/721868/4 "2015-06-08T09:11:45Z")
I haven’t had this problem in a long, long time. Like at least 4 years. Do you have the latest Flash Player? ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2015, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-video-and-audio-of-youtube-videos-get-out-of-synch-if-you-pause-for-a-long-time/721868/5 "2015-06-08T15:40:34Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I haven’t had this problem in a long, long time. Like at least 4 years. Do you have the latest Flash Player? I may need to update, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2015, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-video-and-audio-of-youtube-videos-get-out-of-synch-if-you-pause-for-a-long-time/721868/6 "2015-06-08T15:51:48Z")
When you “come back to it later,” are you doing other things in the meantime? This is just a WAG, but since no one else has come up with an authoritative answer: While you have the video paused, both the audio and video are buffering in your computer’s memory, but maybe the other things you’re doing with your computer are overwriting some of the buffered content so that they’re not caught up with each other. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2015, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-video-and-audio-of-youtube-videos-get-out-of-synch-if-you-pause-for-a-long-time/721868/7 "2015-06-08T18:15:22Z")
Light is faster than sound. You just don’t notice it over the short-term.