YouTube sets 480p resolution limit on android app

YouTube’s android application has passed a video streaming resolution limit of 480p across India.

The decision reportedly relates to the three-week lockdown imposed in India to overcome the spread of coronavirus in the country.

The international news source says that YouTube is working to declutter internet traffic, as more and more people tend to surf the internet during the quarantine.

The news source says that this is the first market in which YouTube appears to have eliminated high-res streaming options while YouTube and other video applications have undertaken efforts to limit bandwidth usage. YouTube has previously announced that it was creating its default max resolution 480p globally (after taking similar action in the EU and U.K.). Users can still choose higher-res options (720p and above).

Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Apple, Facebook, and Disney have taken relevant decisions to handle surging traffic.

Source further said that 9To5Google notes that the 480p limit in India is only applicable to the Android app — though the limit applies to both YouTube Premium subscribers in India as well as those using both mobile data and Wi-Fi networks. That said, the higher resolution still appears to be optional on desktop devices. It remains to be seen whether the hard limit will roll out to other countries in the future.

Also read: YouTube joins Netflix to reduce streaming quality in Europe

YouTube will limit streaming in European countries to standard-definition video by default, following a similar move by Netflix to curtail bandwidth usage across the continent amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“We are making a commitment to temporarily switch all traffic in the EU to standard definition by default,” YouTube said in a statement.

“While we have seen only a few usage peaks, we have measures in place to automatically adjust our system to use less network capacity.”