Wednesday, March 25th 2020
YouTube and Netflix Begin Rationing Their Bandwidth as Lockdowns Surge Online Traffic
Popular video streaming sites YouTube and Netflix have reportedly started rationing their bandwidth by limiting video quality, as online traffic to their services surge to record levels. With COVID-19 lockdowns forcing people to take to online entertainment, the sites are reporting an unprecedented strain on their finite Internet bandwidth. In Europe, the two sites have capped their video quality to 480p, or slightly worse than DVD quality.
Despite the mighty backing of AWS, the world's largest CDN, Amazon's Prime Video is also finding itself having to cap quality based on regional bandwidth constraints. Google is already engaging with governments and ISPs to minimize strain on available Internet bandwidth. Streaming video remains the number one bandwidth consumer. Governments would want to prioritize bandwidth for companies operating remote- or virtual desktops for their employees working from home. Perhaps there's no better time to upgrade online video codecs to newer bandwidth-efficient ones like AV1.
Source:
Bloomberg
Despite the mighty backing of AWS, the world's largest CDN, Amazon's Prime Video is also finding itself having to cap quality based on regional bandwidth constraints. Google is already engaging with governments and ISPs to minimize strain on available Internet bandwidth. Streaming video remains the number one bandwidth consumer. Governments would want to prioritize bandwidth for companies operating remote- or virtual desktops for their employees working from home. Perhaps there's no better time to upgrade online video codecs to newer bandwidth-efficient ones like AV1.
36 Comments on YouTube and Netflix Begin Rationing Their Bandwidth as Lockdowns Surge Online Traffic
1. It doesn't mention Netflix is doing this, just YT. It says the EU ASKED this of Netflix... has it been confirmed they are complying? No reason not to think so of course, but, this article doesn't mention Netflix.
2. It says this will last for one month (the OP does not mention that at all)
3. This isn't a cap on res... it starts off now at 480p (as people have said) and you can change it... the article says this.
The Bloomberg article and this paint different pictures. Is this an editorial? I'm confused.
@btarunr
Only thing that I'm stoked about was Comcast suspended their data cap for two months due to everything going on.
Link: corporate.comcast.com/covid-19
The wife and kids are streaming things like crazy.... probably exceed the normal 1TB limit by a few hundred gigs this month
Here in Au, netflix isn't dropping resolution, just the bandwidth by 25%