Youtube Downloading question.

First I have to say that I am not a very computer savvy guy. The question I have is why when I am watching a youtube video it will only download a small portion and then stop until I play that portion. It happens on videos that are longer than I would say fifteen minutes or so. It also does not happen all the time. Sometimes it will down load an entire video over time. Is it something to do with my browser settings, or my internet connection?

Anybody have any Ideas.

Are you sure? It might just be the download indicator misleading you. Have you tried loading a video until it seems partially loaded, disconnecting from the Internet and playing the video? It's nothing to do with your browser settings, and I don't think it would be anything to do with your connection.

How is your internet connection set-up? Wireless/cable, DSL/Cable?

reply to post by usmc0311


I suspect the problem is that YouTube has gone to an HTML5 playback format for all their videos. They switched to the HTML5 format because iPod doesn't allow Flash. They used to use Flash player and had an opt-in for HYML5 at one time, but there is no option any more.

If you are using Firefox, there are some configuration settings that can be changed to override this, but you said you're not tech savvy, so you might have to put up with it for now. I haven't done any of the config tweaks, yet, and I've noticed that videos are pretty messed up some times. IMO, HTML5 is not ready for prime time.

Originally posted by SpearMint
Are you sure? It might just be the download indicator misleading you. Have you tried loading a video until it seems partially loaded, disconnecting from the Internet and playing the video? It's nothing to do with your browser settings, and I don't think it would be anything to do with your connection.

It will just play until the indicator stops and that is it. I have seen what you are talking about happen though.

Originally posted by ErroneousDylan
How is your internet connection set-up? Wireless/cable, DSL/Cable?

I'm running off my wireless router which is hooked up to DSL. It is an older wireless modem. I wonder if an upgrade might help.

There is a setting at Youtube (if you have a Youtube account, which I don't) where you check the box "I have a slow connection."

Otherwise, if your browser supports it (and most modern browsers do) you can try the HTML5 trial. Works like a champ.

Go here for a quick tutorial:

Youtube HTML5 Trial Tutorial

Edit: I just saw N3k9Ni's post above. It appears we have different experiences with this. It works great for me. Anyway, OP, it's worth a try. It certainly can't make things any worse....

reply to post by N3k9Ni


I'm on internet explorer but I do have firefox. Maybe I will try it there and see what I can come up with.

Thanks everyone who has given input so far. I did not expect fast responses.

reply to post by Ex_CT2


I tried that and it seems to be loading much better. Thanks for the link to the how to.

Much apprecieated.

Just use Mozilla Firefox, install this extension:
Video DownloadHelper
Want to download some MP3s of your favorite songs? This one works great also:
YouTube mp3
With these two extensions, someone like me who surfs the web a lot comes across a lot of videos, and don't have time to watch them right then. I have also built up a nice collection of MP3s.