Madhurima
NEW DELHI: Youtube, the international online video sharing platform made an announcement today, on 25 March 2020 that all the users in India will face a reduction on the streaming quality of videos. This is being done to "to reduce strain on Internet networks during the coronavirus pandemic."
In the country, the default HD and ultra HD feature will be suspended on mobile networks and video will be streamed at a quality not higher than 480p.
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A spokesperson from Google (Youtube is owned by Google), said in a statement, "We continue to work closely with governments and network operators around the globe to do our part to minimize stress on the system during this unprecedented situation. Last week, we announced that we were temporarily defaulting all videos on YouTube to standard definition in the EU. Given the global nature of this crisis, we will expand that change globally starting today."
A familiar announcement was also made for the entire continent of Europe where it was said that in an effort to mitigate lag times, the videos will be available in standard quality instead of high definition.
As more and more homes are undergoing isolation as the COVID-19 pandemic taking over the world, the company is bringing these changes since the usage pattern and traffic on the platform by the users is increasing.
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Youtube also stated, "Despite that, we're taking this action globally to do our part to minimize stress on the system."
