Windows macOS Android and iOS Smart TV and VPN set-top boxes
PC users are the most affected by YouTube slowdowns. The video hosting site loads without any problems, but in most cases, videos don’t even load in the lowest quality. There are a few ways to fix this.
Windows
The easiest way is to install the GoodbyeDPI utility, which will return everything to its previous state in a few clicks. The program is available free of charge at: GitHub. Immediately after downloading, you need to unzip the archive and run the file “1_russia_blacklist.cmd”. If Microsoft Defender’s installation blocking protection is triggered, you should allow the application to run by clicking on the “Run anyway” button.
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If as a result you see the line “Filter enabled, GoodbyeDPI is working now!” in the command line, then everything went well.
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To complete the installation, some users recommend going to the experimental settings section of the browser by entering “chrome://flags” in the address bar in Google Chrome or “browser://flags” in Yandex Browser and going to the window that opens. The “TLS” option disables the “1.3 hybridized Kyber support” and sets it to “Disabled”. After that, YouTube should work as before. According to the socialbites.ca correspondent, everything worked without this procedure.
There are other methods that can help users overcome YouTube slowdown on PC, but they are a bit more complicated than the ones explained above.
To return YouTube to its former speed, you need to change some settings in the settings of the browser you will use to watch YouTube (this scheme is universal for all operating systems, including Windows, macOS and Linux).
To do this, open the desired browser, enter in the address bar: “chrome://flags” for Chrome, “browser://flags” for Yandex Browser, “edge://flags” for Microsoft Edge or “opera://flags” for Opera. In the window that opens, you need to find the “Experimental QUIC protocol” parameter and set the value to “Enabled”. Then for the “TLS 1.3 hybridized Kyber support” parameter, you need to set the option “Enabled”.
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After completing these steps, you need to restart your browser by clicking on the “Restart” or “Restart” button in the bottom right corner of your browser. If you did everything correctly, your YouTube video upload speed should return to normal.
Mozilla Firefox users need to type “about:config” in the address bar and select “True” for the “network.http.http3.enable” and “security.tls.enable_kyber” parameters, then restart the browser and watch YouTube as before.
If changing the settings doesn’t work, try selecting “Disabled” or “False” in Firefox. You can also enable one option and disable another. Try different combinations, as different settings may work in different situations.
Sometimes users were helped by changing the User Agent parameter, which is responsible for identifying the device platform. In this case, you can “trick” the service by making your computer look like a smartphone, which can help limit the speed of video uploads. To do this, you need to download the extension User Agent Switcher. After installation, you need to click on the icon in the upper right corner of the browser and open the application settings. On the page that opens, go to the “Permanent Spoof List” section and enter “www.youtube.com” in the “Domain” line, and select Android KitKat in the “User-Agent String” section. After that, you need to click on the “Add” button and restart the browser.
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Another way to watch YouTube from your computer is to send the link of the video you want to any chat in the Discord app. However, this is not the most convenient option because it will prevent you from using your subscriptions, playlists, and other YouTube features. You will also need to send the link to the next video again after watching the video.
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Mac os operating system
Owners of Apple computers running the macOS operating system can use the methods described above to “fix” YouTube by changing the browser settings. But they also have their own analogue of GoodbyeDPI, called SpoofDPI.
This is a free utility; you can read more about it at: GitHub. You don’t need to download anything to install it, just open Terminal and enter the following commands:
“curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/xvzc/SpoofDPI/main/install.sh | bash -s darwin-amd64” (for Intel Mac devices) or “curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/xvzc/SpoofDPI/main/install.sh | bash -s darwin-arm64” (for computers with Apple M-series chips). Then you need to add the lines “export PATH=$PATH:~/.spoof-dpi/bin” and then “spoof-dpi” here.
Wylsacom/YouTube
Android and iOS
Now about phones. So far, the slowdown in YouTube has affected only desktop versions, so the service works flawlessly on smartphones. Some users complain about the performance of video hosting when connected to Wi-Fi, but when connected from mobile Internet, as a rule, problems do not arise.
However, if you are experiencing slowdowns on YouTube, there is no workaround or legal method to speed it up in practice. The only way is to change your browser settings, just like on a PC. To do this, you need to paste “chrome://flags” or the relevant address of your browser into the address bar, then specify the value of the parameters “Experimental QUIC protocol” and “TLS 1.3 hybridized Kyber support” and change their value to “Enabled”. If this does not work, you can try setting the values to Disabled or trying to combine the settings until YouTube works. It is important to restart the browser for the changes to take effect.
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Smart TV and set-top boxes
Also, some users are experiencing problems with accessing YouTube in high quality via smart TVs, set-top boxes and virtual reality headsets. At the moment, the only way to solve this problem is to distribute Wi-Fi from the mobile device, if the service works without interruption. If video hosting did not work on your smartphone before changing the browser settings, then distributing the Internet from a mobile device will not help solve the problem of accessing YouTube from other devices.
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Please note that the described methods are not suitable for all users. For many, GoodbyeDPI and SpoofDPI worked. There is a possibility that these methods will no longer be effective in the future, but as of early August, they will allow you to watch YouTube in high quality.
VPN
At first glance, the most obvious and easiest way to get YouTube back to its former speed is to use a VPN. However, not all paid services will provide the speeds needed to watch high-resolution videos. If you are not prepared to pay, you will definitely not be able to use YouTube at the same speed. There is also the risk of losing personal data. Many VPN services, especially free ones, sell user data and pass it on to third parties who may use it in an unknown way and for what purposes.
It is also worth considering that when using a VPN, you will still see ads, as your IP address will be linked to another country, such as Russia, where monetization and, accordingly, ads are not disabled. So, although this method may seem useful at first glance, it is actually not as useful as it seems.
Many users copy their content to VK or Rutube, and there you can watch it without fear of traffic slowdown.
What are you thinking?
Source: Gazeta
Jackson Ruhl is a tech and sci-fi expert, who writes for “Social Bites”. He brings his readers the latest news and developments from the world of technology and science fiction.