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Help Slow Data & wifi speeds in YouTube App but not Browser?

jungleexplorer

Android Enthusiast
So I have been experiencing a lot of buffering while watch youtube videos in the YouTube app on my Galaxy S8. I did not pay much attention to but this morning I decided to hunt down the problem. I was trying to watch a video and I was getting buffer, even though the video was running a 144p quality. I have a 40 Mbps internet connection with Cox, so I should not have problems streaming a youtube video at any quality on my smartphone.

1. First I checked to make sure that there was nothing else on the network hogging the bandwidth.
2. I used my laptop to check my speed on speedtest.net. I got 32 Mbps UP and 15 Mbps DOWN.
3. I opened the speedtest.net app on my S8 and ran a speed test to the same server and got similar results as with my laptop.
4. I opened the YouTube App and tried to watch a video at 1080p. It buffered for 20 seconds before starting and went back to buffering after only playing for 5 seconds.
5. I copied the URL of the video and shut the YT app down and using the Chrome browser App I watched the video in 1080p with no slowdowns or buffering.

The same is true whether I am using WiFi or 4g LTE data. I cannot stream video reliably in the YouTube app, even with full bars of signal on 4G LTE. So it is clear that it is the YT app that is causing the issue. My question is WHY? Any suggestions?
 
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