Watch videos with captions
Watch videos on slow connections (Dial-up)
Still rockin’ the 56k? No problem. Even if you have a slow Internet connection, you can still watch YouTube videos. Here are some tips on optimizing your viewing experience:
- Choose lower video quality settings (such as 240p and 360p) from the gear icon in the bottom right side of the video player.
- Start the video and then click the Pause btn immediately. Wait for the gray video progress bar to load a bit before clicking Play.
- Change your video player settings to not default to the highest quality stream.
- Try watching a shorter video; the shorter the video, the less time it takes to load.
Full screen mode
To switch to full screen, click the 
full screen icon in the bottom corner of the video player. To exit out of full screen, press Esc on your keyboard or click the Full screen icon again.
If you have problems viewing full screen videos, make sure you have the most up-to-date version of Adobe Flash Player. Visit Adobe support resources for more information and further help.
On mobile devices, you can switch to full screen by touching the video screen, then the 
arrow icon on Android or the 
full screen icon on iOS.
System requirements
In order to watch YouTube videos, make sure you have the following:
- Adobe Flash Player
- Google Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, or Opera
- Internet connection with 500+ Kbps
Movies, TV shows, and live events requirements
Some premium content on YouTube — like movies, TV shows, and live events — require a faster connection and greater processing power to ensure optimal streaming speeds.
- Adobe Flash Player
- Google Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, or Safari
- Operating system: Windows 7+, Mac OS X 10.7+, Ubuntu 10+, or Linux OS 11+ (64-bit)
- Internet connection with 1+ Mbps
Make sure to close other tabs, browsers, and programs while streaming your content. It may also help to hardwire your Internet connection, instead of using a wireless network connection.
Using YouTube with a screen reader
Introduction
This following information will be helpful for people using screen readers as it explains the steps for using YouTube with screen readers. A screen reader is a software application that identifies and interprets what is being displayed on the computer screen. This information is then presented to a blind user as speech. Visually impaired or blind people use screen readers. This article provides step-by-step process for using YouTube making it easier for a new user to explore YouTube.
Please note: The experience of using YouTube may not be same with all screen readers due to inconsistency of support of technology by the various screen readers. To learn more about using YouTube with a screen reader that supports Adobe Flash accessibility extensions, please see this accessibility feedback page.
Read on to learn more about using YouTube with a screen-reader and discover which keyboard shortcuts are available for the site:
Creating a YouTube account
A Google account is needed to sign in to YouTube (ex. Gmail or Calendar etc.). If you do not have a Google account then you can go ahead and create one using the following steps:
- Go to www.youtube.com
- Click the “create account” link (located at the top of the page after the search btn).
- Complete the requested steps. Once you’ve signed up you’ll have an account and can get started.
Having an account allows you to sign into YouTube and take advantage of YouTube’s community features. You can upload videos, comment on videos, save videos to playlists etc.. These are just a few of the benefits of signing up for a YouTube account. You do not need to sign in to use some basic features of YouTube. Such as, searching for videos, viewing videos etc..
Searching YouTube and Search Results
Searching for YouTube videos
- Navigate to www.youtube.com
- Navigate to the search edit box at the top of the page.
Please note: Though the search edit box does not have a label, it is located at the top of the page, has a search btn after it, and is the only edit box on this page.
- Type a search term and press enter.
Search results
- The search results page has a “did you mean” section which suggests proper words if you misspelled the word(s).
- Prior to the search results, various sorting options are provided to help you sort through the results.
- Each of the search results has the following information:
- A title of the video along with the duration of the video which is a link and a graphic. Hence, navigating using graphics would help navigating to and through the results quicker. Clicking on this will play the video.
- A “+” sign which is link. Clicking on this will play the video as well.
- The text “added to queue”.
- The title of the video which is also a link. Clicking on it will play the video as well.
- A snippet of the video.
- Name of the individual who posted the video.
- How many years ago the video was uploaded and the number of views it has had so far.
- Sometimes you will find a heading level 2, “Related searches” with heading level 3s below it. These are other search categories related to the search term(s) you typed. Clicking any of these search categories will take you to another page which has video results for that category.
The YouTube Flash Player
Once you click one of the search results, the flash player will load and the video will start playing automatically. Here are the components and layout of the flash player:
- Section headers:
- H1 for the title of the video
- H4 for “highest rated comments”, “all comments”, and “suggestions”.
- The flash player has the following components:
-
- Subtitles:
If a video has subtitles then the subtitles are placed at the top of the video. The subtitles section begins with the text “subtitles start” followed by two lines of subtitles and end with the text “subtitles end”. If the subtitles are on, the screen reader should say “Subtitles Loaded”. If the subtitles are off, press the “Subtitles Unloaded” btn, the btn should change to “Subtitles Loading”. Then after two seconds or so it should speak “Subtitles Loaded”. From that point on the subtitles will appear at the beginning of the Flash player.
- Play/pause btn:The btn text toggles based on the current status of the video.
- Seek slider:The seek slider is used to fast forward or rewind the video and to increase or decrease the volume. To use the seek slider, first turn off virtual cursor then tab to the slider.
- Use left/right arrow keys to fast forward/rewind the video and use the up/down arrow keys to increase/decrease volume.
- Mute/unmute: This btn toggles depending on whether the video is muted or not muted.
- 360p btn:This btn changes the quality of the video in terms of pixels. Here are the available resolutions: 1080p, 720p, 480p, 360p (default), 240p, 240p Light
- Pop-out btn:The pop-out btn creates a new browser window and places only the player with the video that is currently playing. It leaves out all the content that is outside the actual player. This allows users to resize the player any way they like.
The btn is also useful for blind users who might want to get rid of all the extra elements in the HTML page around the player and be left just with the player on its own.Its important to note, that if you have pop-up blocker enabled, then you’ll need to disable the pop-up blocker in order to open this new window.
- Expand/Shrink btn:The label of the btn toggles depending on the current selection. Clicking the expand/shrink btn makes the video player larger and smaller.This btn also increases the video quality when you expand the player, and uses a lower quality when you shrink it if the video has multiple qualities.
- Time elapsed/total duration:This section shows the total time elapsed over the total duration of the video. It shows you how much of the video has played already and how much there’s still left to play.
Note: To replay the video, click on the “play” btn after the video stops playing.
- Subtitles:
| Keyboard shortcut | Function |
| O | To jump to the beginning of the flash player |
| Spacebar | Play/Pause when the seek bar is selected. Activate a btn if a btn has focus |
| Play/Pause Media Key on keyboards | Play / Pause |
| Stop Media Key on keyboards | Stop |
| Next Track Media Key on keyboards | Moves to the next track in a play/list |
| Left/Right arrow on the seek bar | Seek backward/forward 5 seconds |
| Home/End on the seek bar | Seek to the beginning/last seconds of the video |
| Up/Down arrow on the seek bar | Increase/Decrease volume 5% |
| Numbers 1 to 9 (not on the numeric pad) on the seek bar | Seek to the 10% to 90% of the video |
| Number 0 (not on the numeric pad) on the seek bar | Seek to the beginning of the video |
Download your own YouTube videos
Downloading other people’s YouTube videos is not allowed. However, you’ll always be able to download MP4s of videos you’ve uploaded. You can download your own uploaded videos from a computer.
How to download an MP4 of an upload
-
Go to your channel Video Manager
- Find the video you’d like to download.
- Click the arrow next to Edit to open a drop-down menu.
- Click Download MP4.
Why can’t I download my video?
You won’t be able to download your videos under the following circumstances:
- Your video has been removed from YouTube
- You’re using a pre-approved audio track
- Your video has copyrighted content
- You’ve already downloaded two videos in the last hour — you can only download an individual video up to five times per day. Once a day has passed, the Download MP4 btn will appear again.
Video quality
To give you the best viewing experience possible on your computer, YouTube adjusts the quality of your video stream from standard definition (such as 240p or 360p) to high definition (720p or 1080p), based on the speed of your Internet connection (bandwidth). This is why you may notice that the quality of your video changes as you watch videos.
Here are some other factors that determine video quality:
- Video player size: By default, the quality setting will be on “Auto” and YouTube will use the highest quality based on your video player size.
- Quality of the original uploaded video: For example, if the video was recorded in standard definition, it will not be available in high definition.
Change video quality
Change the video quality by going to the gear icon in the corner of the video player, and selecting your preferred quality.
menu icon, then the gear. This option isn’t available on all devices (e.g. TV/game consoles), or connections (e.g. iOS on a cellular network).
If you’re signed in to YouTube on your computer, you can set default video quality preferences for all videos. Note that default settings won’t apply to YouTube on mobile.
If you have a slow Internet connection, you can make the video load more quickly by using a lower quality setting.
- Go to your Settings page
- Select I have a slow connection. Never play higher-quality video
- Click the Save btn
If you have a fast Internet connection, you can change your settings to make sure videos always play in HD qualities when they’re available:
- Go to your Settings page
- Select Always play HD on fullscreen (when available)
- Click the Save btn
Change video player size
When using YouTube on your computer, the size of your video player will automatically adapt based on the available space in your browser window.
If you want to manually change the size of your video player, simply adjust the size of your browser. Alternatively, you can select the 
Theater mode icon in the bottom corner of the video player to view your video in a large player without going into full screen.
Like or dislike a video
Liking a video is a quick way to let a video creator know that you enjoy their work, and it will add the video to your Liked videos playlist if you’re signed in. If you’re not the biggest fan of a video, disliking it is one way to show that opinion. Note that if you’d like to report inappropriate content, you should flag the video.
To like a video, click the 
thumbs up icon underneath the video player, and to dislike a video, click the 
thumbs down icon. Simply click the icon again to undo your choice.
Watch videos at high frame rate
How to watch at high frame rate
To get high frame rate playback, watch a YouTube video at a quality of 720p or 1080p.
In the quality menu, high frame rate will be listed next to the resolution (example: 1080p60).
High frame rate requirements
Only videos that are uploaded with a high frame rate can be played at high frame rate.
High frame rate video is available on the following desktop browsers as well as the PS3 and PS4 apps:
- Chrome (version 25 and later)
- Firefox 38 and up on Windows and OSX
- Internet Explorer 11 (Windows 8.1)
- Safari 8 on OSX Yosemite
- Opera 30 and up
Forcing lower frame rate playback
To watch a video at a lower frame rate, switch the quality to 480p or lower.
Autoplay videos
The autoplay feature on YouTube makes it easier to decide what to watch next. After you watch a YouTube video on your computer, we’ll automatically play another related video based on your viewing history.
At the end of each video, you’ll see a 10 second countdown that tells you what’s going to play next. We know you like to interact with the video page, so the 10 second countdown will automatically pause if you scroll down past the video player or start typing something, like a comment or a search query. You can also click Cancel on the countdown screen to prevent the next video from automatically playing.
Turn off autoplay
You can turn off autoplay in your browser so that it is disabled for all videos, as long as they are not in a playlist. Here’s how to turn off autoplay:
- Click the gear icon in the corner of the video player
- Select OFF next to the Autoplay option
Alternatively, you can use the 
toggle above the Up Next section on the video page to turn off autoplay.
Note that autoplay will remain turned off until you turn it back on again.
Use RSS with YouTube
Get RSS updates for a single channel
To get an RSS feed of a single channel’s uploads, paste the channel URL into your RSS reader.
Get RSS updates for all subscriptions
To import all your YouTube subscriptions to your RSS reader, you can use our OPML file download feature:
- Download the OPML file by clicking Export subscriptions at the bottom of your Manage Subscriptions page. This will download a file named “subscription_manager.xml”.
- Import the OPML file in your RSS reader.
- In Feedly, for example, this can be found in Organize in the left panel, then Import OPML.
Watch 360 degree videos in Cardboard
Google Cardboard lets you experience virtual reality in a simple and fun way. With Cardboard and the YouTube Android app, you can even watch 360 degree videos for an immersive experience.
- Get Google Cardboard and assemble it
- Open the YouTube app
- Go to the 360Video house channel by searching for “#360Video” and visiting the channel. You’ll know it’s the right one if it has this avatar:
- Pick a video on the channel, and start playback
- Touch the cardboard icon
. You’ll notice that the screen splits into two smaller screens - Insert your phone into Cardboard
- Look around to view the video in 360 degrees
