# YouTube and "buffering"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-and-buffering/466492>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [October 4, 2008, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-and-buffering/466492 "2008-10-04T23:36:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\
**Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-and-buffering/466492/1 "2008-10-04T23:36:33Z")

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I recently logged onto YouTube to hear Edith Piaf, on the _Ed Sullivan Show_ in 1959, sing “Milord.” I’d get 2 or 3 seconds of audio, then several seconds of silence. I understand this is what is called “buffering.” Is there any way to stop it?

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**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\
**Post date:** [October 5, 2008, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-and-buffering/466492/2 "2008-10-05T00:33:10Z")

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The reason that this occurs is that YouTube lets you start watching a video before it finishes downloading. The easiest way to avoid this problem is to just pause the video immediately and give it time to download fully.

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**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\
**Post date:** [October 5, 2008, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-and-buffering/466492/3 "2008-10-05T05:31:29Z")

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Thanks, Grumman. However, there’s no bar graph to tell the progress of the download so the video and audio kept stopping; I had to “pause” for 3 or 4 minutes several times to get all the way through.

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**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\
**Post date:** [October 5, 2008, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-and-buffering/466492/4 "2008-10-05T05:35:29Z")

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> [@dougie\_monty](#):
>
> Thanks, Grumman. However, there’s no bar graph to tell the progress of the download

Yes, there is…the same bar that tells you how far in the video you are when it’s playing - it turns pink as it’s loading.

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**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\
**Post date:** [October 5, 2008, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-and-buffering/466492/5 "2008-10-05T05:37:27Z")

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> [@dougie\_monty](#):
>
> However, there’s no bar graph to tell the progress of the download

There should be a pale red line in the seeker bar that appears as it buffers, and a brighter red where the slider has progressed when it plays.

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**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\
**Post date:** [October 5, 2008, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-and-buffering/466492/6 "2008-10-05T07:27:57Z")

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I asked the same question about a year ago. For me, it seems to depend on the taffic on the Internet. (Oh and the answers this time round are different 🙂 )

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**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\
**Post date:** [October 5, 2008, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-and-buffering/466492/7 "2008-10-05T08:01:17Z")

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My strategy is to open a video with the volume muted, do something else while it buffers and plays through once, then turn the sound on and replay it.

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**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\
**Post date:** [October 5, 2008, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-and-buffering/466492/8 "2008-10-05T23:50:45Z")

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Sometimes server problems make the buffering act erratically or ultra-slow. The NYC YouTube server has been doing this to me for the past couple of days.