A Complete Guide to Fixing YouTube Playback Error

YouTube is reaching new heights of popularity every day. It has become the preferred video streaming choice for the majority of people. However, the YouTube reading experience is not as perfect as you might think. Users often complain of playback errors while playing a video on YouTube web or mobile apps. This ultimately ruins the experience for general users as well as premium YouTube subscribers.

There can be several reasons behind the read error behavior. It can be associated with your Google account, browser cache, or a buggy app on your mobile device.

In this guide, we will mention the top ten ways to fix YouTube playback error issue. Follow the steps and start enjoying YouTube like before. Let’s start.

1. Close and reopen the browser tabs

As simple as it sounds, some users have mentioned that just exiting the YouTube tab and reopening fixed the issue. Close the current YouTube tab with the keyboard shortcut Ctrl / Command + W and reopen it with the keys Ctrl + Shift + T on Windows or Command + Shift + T on Mac.

On mobile devices, you can go back to the Home screen, close the app from the multitasking menu, and open it from scratch. Try playing a video to see if it fixed the problem for you or not.

2. Log out and sign in to the Google account

This is another trick that has worked for many. On the YouTube web, tap the profile picture in the top right corner and sign out of your current Google account. Log in again using the same Google credentials and try to play the YouTube video.

3. Reset the router

The router is like a mini-computer with a processor, memory, and local storage in the plastic box running in an operating system. So like a computer or phone, restarting your router may fix the problem. We recommend that you wait 10 seconds after turning off your router before restarting it to make sure that each capacitor is completely drained.

Restart your router and try to connect YouTube again to see if that fixes the problem.

4. Update the router firmware

Many users have reported that updating the router firmware is working for them. So, this method is worth trying. As for updating the firmware of the router, you should check the modem model to find the detailed instructions on the website of the router vendor.

5. Clear cookies and cache

No matter what device you use, deleting temporary files and other junk files is essential for any streaming service to function properly. Clear cache files, cookies, history and temporary internet files from your browser. Speaking of browser, if YouTube playback isn’t working for you, try the browser trick below.

6. Change browser

YouTube, being a Google product, works best on the Google Chrome browser. Normally, YouTube should work fine on Opera, Firefox, Edge, or Safari, but Google has a habit of breaking rival browsers with incorrect YouTube playback.

There have also been allegations that Google has made changes to its sites that have broken other chrome-free browsers in the past. Go to Google Chrome and see if that fixes the YouTube playback issue.

7. Disable the AdBlock extension

Recently, the popular Chrome extension from AdBlock caused the YouTube playback error issue for Microsoft Edge, Brave, and Chrome browsers. After investigating the issue, Microsoft confirmed that the YouTube playback error was caused by a conflict between the AdBlock Plus browser extension and Microsoft Edge, potentially causing issues while uploading videos to YouTube.

You need to uninstall all these problematic Chromium extensions to fix the problem.

8. Update the YouTube app

This is linked to the mobile. YouTube playback error can be caused by buggy version of YouTube posted by Google. If your mobile phone is configured to automatically update apps in the background, it has already downloaded the update. The good news is that Google is quick enough to fix the problem. You need to open the App Store or Google Play Store and update YouTube to the latest version.

9. Adjust video quality

YouTube allows up to 4K resolution to stream the video. Usually it is set to automatic to stream video according to the available internet speed. But if you manually adjust the video resolution to a higher resolution and you don’t have internet bandwidth to load the video, it may cause a playback error after continuous loading.

You need to lower the video playback resolution and that should fix the problem.

10. Check Google servers

YouTube playback error can be caused by outrage from Google server. Visit Downdetector and see if the majority are also reporting similar issues or not. If so, you will have to wait for Google to fix the problem on their end.

Play YouTube videos without any problem

YouTube is proving to be an essential service for doing chores at home. By using the tips above, you can easily fix YouTube playback error on your device. Try the troubleshooting steps above and let us know which trick worked to resolve the issue.