Tips for Youtube to stop preloading videos to save network bandwidth

YouTube Center Settings

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Get the YouTube setup add-on. YouTube Center is a user-generated browser extension. Once the extension loads, you'll access more YouTube options, including the ability to stop auto-preloading data and force the video to load completely instead of split.

Add-ons do not come from the company that founded the browser, but are created by the user. YouTube Center in particular may be safe, but other add-ons in general carry the risk of bugs or potential malware.

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Download YouTube Center for the browser. Click one of the following links to get YouTube Center for your browser. After you open the file, the add-on will automatically be installed.

1. Add-ons for Firefox.
2. Opera add-on.

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Update your browser if the add-on doesn't work. Go to YouTube and follow the instructions in the next section. If you don't see the new setting, try updating your browser. Normally, you can check for updates for your browser using the top menu, clicking on the browser name (for example, Firefox ), then selecting Update or About (the browser name) .

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Find the latest news if you use Chrome or Internet Explorer. As of December 2014, YouTube Center is officially no longer available with Chrome and Internet Explorer. However, since it has been available in the past, this extension may work if Chrome or Internet Explorer accepts it. Search the internet for the keyword "YouTube Center" and the name of your browser. If the add-on is still not available, you may need to use a different browser to access these settings.

Unofficial YouTube Center user scripts are sometimes available with these browsers if you have a browsing enhancement extension installed, such as Greasemonkey or Tampermonkey. However, these extensions have not been rigorously tested by the browser store or the original founder of the YouTube Center, so they are prone to viruses and other malware.

Change cache settings on YouTube Center

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Go to YouTube. To access the new setup, you need to open the YouTube homepage. The setting can also be customized while you're watching a video, but the change won't apply until you reload the YouTube page.

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Open YouTube Center settings. On the YouTube page, click the gear icon in the upper-right corner of the web page. The YouTube Center setup page will open.

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Click the Player option in the left menu. Find in the left menu column and click the Player item . Buffer-related settings and options will open.

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Set up YouTube videos to load without stopping. If YouTube videos frequently pause to load data, try disabling "DASH Playback" by unchecking the box next to the option name. DASH Playback splits the video into parts and loads at the same time when playing, which can lead to interruptions if your internet connection is poor. When DASH Playback is disabled, YouTube will preload the entire video whether playing or paused.

YouTube does not allow 1080p or 480p video downloads when DASH playback is disabled.

DASH stands for Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP.

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Stop autoplay or preload. If you normally open YouTube videos but don't watch them right away, stop buffering (loading) first or playing them until you want to watch them, so you can use the bandwidth for other activities. Try checking that Player in the list on the left is selected, then click Auto-Play in the top row of options. Check one or all of the boxes to disable auto-preloading or autoplay in different cases.

If you check the "Prevent auto-play" box, all YouTube videos that start playing will pause until you click them.

If you check the "Prevent auto-buffering" box, the entire YouTube video will pause and won't start loading until you click play.

The remaining options give the same effect but only for specific videos. The "playlist" option will prevent the next video in the playlist from playing automatically. The "tabs" option will prevent videos in tabs or windows that you don't see from playing automatically.

David Pac

Update 20 February 2022