YouTube is continuing to do its part to declutter internet traffic, as more and more quarantined citizens stay at home surfing the web to stem the spread of coronavirus.
9To5Google reports that YouTube’s Android app has enacted a video streaming resolution limit of 480p across India. The decision reportedly coincides with a 21-day nationwide lockdown in India announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 25.
While YouTube — and other video platforms — have undertaken efforts to cut down on bandwidth usage, this is the first market in which YouTube appears to have eliminated high-res streaming options altogether. YouTube offers several resolution options, and previously announced that it was making its default max resolution 480p globally (after taking similar action in the EU and U.K.) — though users can still manually select higher-res options (720p and above). Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Apple, Facebook, and Disney have taken similar amid surging traffic.
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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, 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.
