I’m here to talk about a problem I encountered recently – Youtube TV not supporting certain video formats. Recently, I’ve been dealing with a lot of frustration as I couldn’t get my video files to play on Youtube TV. After doing some research, I found out that this is a common issue for many people. So, I’m here to discuss the potential causes of this issue and how to fix it. I’ll also be sharing the tips and tricks I discovered in the process.
If the Youtube TV video format is continuously coming up with an error, you should start with the basics. Restarting your internet connection or rebooting your device may be the simplest solution. When the basics don’t work, you can try to solve the problem with some troubleshooting techniques.
| Tips: |
|---|
| Restart your internet connection or reboot your device |
| Restart your device to resolve excessive RAM usage |
| Ensure your device is updated to a compatible version of Youtube TV |
| Disable ad-blockers in your browser |
| Consider buying a device that supports Youtube TV |
| Try using streaming devices such as Chromecast TV, Roku, and Apple TV |
| Log out of all devices and change your password to prevent simultaneous use |
| Check the basic internet connectivity of your devices |
Solutions To Fixing The Youtube TV Video Format Not Supported Error Message
Although it might seem too straightforward, often switching off and restarting your device to use Youtube TV can resolve the error message. You can also refresh your browser or log out and back into your personal account.
Often excessive RAM usage is the cause of glitchy videos or playback errors on Youtube TV, which is easily resolved by restarting your device. Rebooting your device will clear the current RAM, ensuring fewer glitches and allowing you to view the videos you want easily.
If this does not resolve the playback error, there are any number of reasons why your device might not support the video format. If the basics aren’t working, then you will need to determine if your browser or device is too outdated to run the version of Youtube TV you are currently running.
It is relatively easy to determine which devices are compatible with Youtube TV. If your TV or device is too outdated, you will need to purchase a device which is able to support Youtube TV if you would like to stream successfully from the app. Streaming devices to consider include Chromecast TV, Roku, and Apple TV, as these are all compatible with Youtube TV.
However, purchasing a more recent streaming device will avoid repeating the problem of compatibility. In addition, streaming devices are relatively inexpensive and versatile.
For older mobile devices, you will need to upgrade your software. For example, Youtube TV is only compatible with Androids running 5.0 Lollipop and higher and iPhones & iPads running iOS 11 and higher. You can check which operating system your device is running through settings > about phone > android version or settings > system preferences.
Once you have checked if your device is compatible with Youtube TV and you have rebooted it, the following solution you can try is to ensure that you have no ad blockers enabled in your browsers. The best way to determine if an AdBlock is enabled is if you notice an AdBlock logo (which is a hand inside of a stop sign) in your browser’s toolbar.
Your browser’s toolbar will usually be at the top right-hand corner of the screen. Next, click on the adblocker icon and set your preferences to allow ads. This solution is straightforward to do.
The video format could be unsupported by Youtube TV, and in this instance, there is not much more you can do besides asking the profile owner to upload a supported format. DivX, Xvid, and MKV are the most common unsupported video formats.
You should further check to ensure that the resolution of your TV is the same as the video resolution; if it is not, you may need to buy a different adapter to connect to your TV. Finally, you can change the video quality by selecting the gear icon under settings, then selecting the quality option, and from here, a menu will appear.
You should enable the auto or data saver options as this will automatically adjust your video quality as needs be. This option is beneficial for slower internet lines and will decrease the chances of buffering.
If your video format is still unsupported and you are running out of solutions, you should install Chromium or Chrome IPO Chromium. These browsers will enable you to run Youtube TV more efficiently than Chrome.
Additionally, the video format might be unsupported if the video is not available in your region. You can bypass this by downloading a trusted VPN and accessing the video you want to watch virtually in the region where it will be available.
Having your restricted mode on could further be the cause of why the video format is not supported. If you are on your mobile, you can temporarily disable this by selecting setting > general and then toggling restrict mode off (to the left).
If you are on your PC, you can turn off restricted mode through your profile.
Although useful, hardware acceleration could also be the culprit and lead to playback errors. Hardware acceleration is automatically enabled and must be disabled from the browser settings.
You should select the three vertical dots on Google Chrome and then select system. This solution will allow you to toggle the hardware acceleration option off. You will need to restart your browser after attempting any of these solutions to ensure that the changes have been appropriately implemented.
If you are still experiencing a playback error, you can try to stream the video through incognito mode. Although this isn’t a permanent solution to the problem, it will likely work in the moment.
Another cause of the playback error is if your account is being simultaneously run on multiple devices, which can cause confusion between the devices. You should first log out all devices you have logged into, and that may be streaming at the same time.
Logging out of all your devices can be done remotely through your settings. It would be best if you changed your password to avoid this problem in the future and secure your devices.
There are several quick solutions you can try to fix the problem, and working through these solutions step by step will likely resolve the issue. An unsupported video format error is easy to fix in most cases, but it is important that your device is compatible with the version of Youtube TV you are running.
In Conclusion
While it is frustrating not to be able to watch the videos you want to in the moment, there is often a straightforward solution. Always go back to the basics first and ensure your devices are correctly connected to the internet and that you are running Youtube TV on a compatible device.
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