Recently, Netflix announced that over in Europe, they will be reducing the quality of its streams. This is because of the coronavirus outbreak where many people are now being forced to stay at home for work and school, and as such, many are turning to streaming more than ever. This has resulted in Europe’s internet service providers experiencing a greater strain than ever on its network.Now it looks like YouTube will be following in Netflix’s footsteps, where they too have announced that for Europe, they will be reducing the stream quality from videos on its platform. According to the statement issued by YouTube, “We are making a commitment to temporarily switch all traffic in the EU to standard definition by default.”
Also, similar to what Netflix is doing, YouTube will be reducing the bitrate of its videos. For those unfamiliar, bitrate is what determines how smooth video playbacks are. This means that at least for the next month or so, if you are living in the EU, don’t be surprised if your YouTube videos aren’t quite as smooth or sharp as they once were.
We imagine that things will (and hopefully) revert back to the way they are once this crisis is under control, but for now, we guess it’s one of the small sacrifices we’ll have to make.
Filed in . Read more about Entertainment, Netflix and YouTube. Source: macrumors