How To Solve “YouTube Keeps Freezing” Error ?

YouTube is one of the most popular video sharing and streaming platform. Many up and coming content creators choose YouTube to showcase their talent and post innovative content on the platform to connect with their audience. it is also one of the most visited websites on the internet nowadays.

However, after a recent update, there is a new problem that leaves YouTube not responding on Google Chrome browser. Sometimes, there is also an issue where YouTube freezes Chrome, the video is stuck but the audio plays normally as it would. Here I will discuss how to solve the “YouTube keeps freezing” error.

Why Do YouTube Videos Keep Freezing Chrome?

This is actually a very common error that has plagued many users since the start of YouTube. There are a lot of reasons why you may be facing this error. Here I will list some of the reasons why YouTube may keep crashing on your Google Chrome browser.

Poor internet connection

This is actually one of the most common reasons why you may be seeing the error. A poor connection will cause the video to buffer after some time. The audio may be loaded a little early, so you may hear the audio but the video freezes.

Resolution mismatch

With new technology, the resolution at which the videos are shot is going higher and higher. However, the viewers can be limited by the resolution of their screens and the bandwidth cap of their internet connections. A video playing at a resolution higher than what your screen can handle and what your bandwidth can stream at will naturally freeze and hamper your consumption.

YouTube built too much cache

The cache is the data stored on your device by the websites to load the sites faster the next time you load the site. However, a mismatched cache data or cache library filled to the brim can also be harmful and cause stutters instead. This will lead to the images and audios being not displayed correctly, and YouTube crashing Chrome.

Incompatible player software and broken add-ons

Add-ons or extensions are installed to increase the functionality of the website and your browser on a whole. But a broken extension may interfere with the smooth running of the YouTube videos and cause stutters. Many users also choose to install more than one player software on their system so that they can search for different videos. These players can also conflict and leave your YouTube not responding.

Fixed: YouTube Keeps Freezing

To best view and enjoy the videos on YouTube, you can follow these steps to solve YouTube keeps freezing error. Incase Youtube takes long time to start, you should check this post.

# Solution 1: Optimum Resolution

If you are limited to a bandwidth that does not offer speeds to smoothly run higher resolution videos, it is best to lower the resolution to the one that your screen can support and your internet connection can stream normally.

To lower the resolution, click on the gear icon to open the settings. Then click on Quality.

Here you will see all the resolutions that the uploader has made it available in. Select a lower resolution than the one the video is currently playing at.

If you are unsure what resolution can play best on the internet connection you are on, you can click on Auto. This will let YouTube decide the optimum resolution that the video can be played on your current internet connection speed.

# Solution 2:  Restart YouTube

Sometimes, while loading a web page, there can be some error that prevents some of the features from being displayed correctly.

The same can happen with YouTube as well. A simple restart will download all the data again and load a fresh copy of the video.

Note: You need to stop the video and then exit the window, or else the cookies saved will load the same erred page that you faced the problem the last time on.

In most cases, this should solve the error and YouTube should play videos normally. In case Youtube is not working then you can try these steps.

# Solution 3: Clear Cookies And Browsing Data

Since the cookies and cache are responsible for saving some data, a mismatch in this data is the likely cause of the “YouTube keeps freezing” error on Google Chrome browser. You need to clear this saved data in order to view the video without it freezing.

To clear the saved data on your Google Chrome browser, press the Ctrl + Shift + Delete keys to launch the Clear browsing data dialog box.

• Here select All time from the time range drop-down menu.
• Click on Clear data.

• Now type chrome://restart in the address bar to restart Chrome.

To clear saved data in Mozilla Firefox, click on the hamburger menu, then select Clear Recent History.

• Now select Everything from the Time range to clear.
• Tick the boxes next to the data you want to delete.
• Click on Clear Now.
• Relaunch Firefox.

# Solution 4: Disable Browser Add-Ons

Extensions increase the usability of the browser and bring about many features that were naturally absent from the app itself. Many browsers have naturally many extensions on their dedicated stores like the Chrome webstore etc.

However, some broken extensions like an AdBlock extension may be responsible for the error. If you started witnessing this error after you installed an extension, it is possible that some broken extension is causing the error you are facing.

To check if that is the case, browse the page you were having the error on using Incognito Browsing mode. Run an Incognito Window by right-clicking on the taskbar icon.

The extensions by default are disabled in this mode, and you can confirm that the error was caused by some broken extension if you don’t face this error anymore in Incognito mode.

Start by enabling the extensions one by one and check if the error persists.

# Solution 5: Disable Hardware Acceleration

If enabled, the hardware acceleration uses computer hardware specially made to perform some functions more efficiently than possible in software running on a general-purpose CPU.

If the hardware is used to smoothen the performance, the resources tangled in doing so can create compatibility problems and hence cause the YouTube videos freezing Chrome during playing. Also if you do not like the Youtube recommendation at the end of each video then you can stop it using this method.

There is, unfortunately, no method to turn off Hardware Acceleration in Chrome from outside the app. Follow these steps to disable hardware acceleration in Chrome:

1. Open Google Chrome.
2. Click the hamburger menu (≡).
3. Select Settings.
4. Scroll down and click on Advanced
5. Under the System subsection, locate Hardware Acceleration.
6. Turn the toggle towards off next to “Use hardware acceleration when available”.

7. Restart your browser.

Wrapping Up

YouTube is one of the most popular websites on the internet. But the errors it has can cause a hamper in the usability and video consumption experience. Now you know how to solve the “YouTube keeps freezing error” using the steps given above. Do comment below if you found this useful, and to discuss further the same.