Is YouTube Down? Live status & outage reports

Service info and troubleshooting

Video won't load or buffers constantly

The most common culprit is bandwidth. Open a speed test and check your connection — streaming 1080p requires at least 5 Mbps, and 4K needs 20 Mbps or more. If the numbers look fine, try lowering the quality manually in the player settings. Also clear your browser cache or restart the app: cached junk builds up fast and breaks playback.

App freezes or crashes on launch

This usually happens after an update that didn't install cleanly. Force-close the app, clear its cache in your phone's settings, then reopen. If it still crashes, uninstall and reinstall — that fixes corrupted local data almost every time. On desktop, try a different browser to rule out an extension conflict.

Search returns no results or wrong ones

If the search bar spins endlessly or shows nothing, the issue is often a temporary glitch in the session. Sign out, clear cookies, sign back in. If results are irrelevant, check whether Safe Search or location filters are on — they can silently narrow results in unexpected ways.

Video plays but there's no sound

• Check if the player's volume icon is muted — it's easy to hit by accident
• Make sure your OS audio output is set to the right device
• On mobile, check that the physical mute switch isn't on
• Try a different video to confirm it's not the specific upload

Can't sign in to your account

If login fails with a generic error, first try resetting your password — sometimes sessions just expire. If you're getting a 'This browser or app may not be secure' message, update your browser or switch to Chrome/Firefox. Two-factor auth issues are usually tied to a wrong system clock: sync your device time automatically in settings.

Uploads stuck or failing mid-way

Large files fail when the connection drops even briefly. Use a wired connection if possible. Make sure the file format is supported — MP4 with H.264 is the safest bet. If the upload hangs at 0% or 99%, pause it, wait 30 seconds, and resume. Persistent failures usually mean the file is corrupted — re-export and try again.

Comments or likes not saving

This is almost always a session problem. Sign out completely, clear cookies, sign back in. If actions appear to work but reset on refresh, disable browser extensions one by one — ad blockers sometimes interfere with API calls that record user interactions.