Anyone who loves watching movies, live events such as sports and online shows understands how irritating video buffering can be. You stay on your sofa, waiting for your device to load and continue streaming for minutes. If it were live entertainment, such as football, several things could already have happened on the ground. That loading circle is the most annoying thing you want to see when streaming. Consequently, if you are a content creator or run a show, the worst experience you can give your viewer is poor-quality streaming due to poor uploads.
Fortunately, there are a few hacks you can use as the viewer when downloading or as a content owner when uploading to ensure smooth streaming online. Here are the five simple ways to enforce without costing you a coin.
1. Check Your Internet Connectivity
Online streaming means you watch a video from an external source via a server to your device over the internet. Hence, the first thing you should ensure is that your internet speed and signal strength are stable and reliable. A stable and fast connection will eliminate buffering and make the streaming smooth.
How can you check these parameters? There are free sites that measure your internet speed and download rate. If you are streaming a standard definition (SD) video, your Wi-Fi router should transmit at least 3–5 Mbps. Otherwise, for higher quality streaming, it should be 5–10 Mbps for high-definition (HD) and 25 Mbps or more for 4K video streaming.
Hence, you need to understand what your internet provider is offering you before you consider another solution for buffering. If the speed and strength are okay from the router, maybe it’s your device that is obstructed by walls and furniture or too far away for it. In that case, changing to a wired connection usually leads to faster and more stable connectivity.
2. Reduce Network Congestion
In the modern era of internet connectivity using fibre optic cables, it may be unlikely that the problem is with your internet speed. However, if the same wifi router is feeding too many devices at the same time, then streaming videos smoothly will be affected due to reduced stability. Additionally, if one user is downloading heavy files, using online gaming consoles or having an online video call, the shared bandwidth will not be adequate for everyone.
Hence, allocate time for everyone who consumes a high amount of data per second, uploading or streaming your videos during off-peak hours. You can also disconnect devices that are not in use. Otherwise, if all are important, you may have to upgrade your internet package.
3. Manually Adjust Streaming Quality
Although with modern devices, streaming platforms such as Netflix, Prime Video, and others can adjust the quality of their videos to match your internet speed, you may need to personally check the settings. If you find the video yu are streaming is buffering because it’s set at a higher video quality, you can adjust the resolution downwards. For example, switch from 1080p (HD) to 720p or even 480 (SD). You will be surprised, the loading will be faster and the playback smoother. If your internet improves later, you can set the streaming back to a higher resolution.
4. Use a Reliable Video Streaming Platform
Another smart way to reduce buffering is to use a reliable video streaming platform. These are special websites that host videos for content creators to share with a large audience in high definition. A handy online video streaming platform does not even require you to have advanced technical skills to watch video content. Their powerful servers are designed for streaming high-quality online videos after the compression process without viewers experiencing server connectivity errors.
Another benefit of these platform servers is that anyone can view the videos on any device, including a smartphone, tablet, laptop, or smart TV. Some platforms, such as Streamvi, also support commonly used video formats, including MP4, MKV, MOV, AVI, and more. Surprisingly, some platforms offer the service for free, making it helpful if you are a content creator, marketer, or business owner who wants to make more income.
5. Clear Cache and Install Device Updates
Lastly, the device you use to upload, download or stream content usually stores temporary files in a cache folder. Over time, or even within months, these files can consume substantial memory, resulting in poor performance in your browser or app. They need to be regularly cleared and the device restarted thereafter. You will be amazed at how this simple trick works, especially on devices that do not have a large internal operating memory.
Additionally, your device and applications require software updates, either by downloading them or enabling automatic updates from the manufacturer. Otherwise, the old version will not work well with modern streaming platforms. Remember to close or uninstall any other apps that are not in use, as they reduce its ability to process video smoothly.