YouTube has an inbuilt feature to control the video quality based on the bandwidth. Not only in the web version but it is available across all device versions such as Android, iOS, Samsung Smart TV, SONY TV, LG TV and even in Play Station versions.
Available quality settings depends on the device and the video you are playing. Below given list of all available quality levels supported by YouTube:
- Auto (adjusts based on the available bandwidth)
- 144p
- 240p
- 360p
- 480p
- 720p (HD, High Definition)
- 1080p (FHD, Full HD)
- 4K (UHD, Ultra HD)
Below chart will give a rough data usage based on the bandwidth:
| Speed | Bandwidth/Hour |
|---|---|
| 1Mbps | 0.44GB |
| 2Mbps | 0.88GB |
| 4Mbps | 1.76GB |
| 8Mbps | 3.52GB |
| 8Mbps | 3.52GB |
| 16Mbps | 7.03GB |
| 24Mbps | 10.55GB |
| 32Mbps | 14.06GB |
| 50Mbps | 21.97GB |
| 100Mbps | 43.95GB |
Say you have 50Mbps connection and you watch YouTube in 1080p resolution, you will consume a maximum of 21.97GB data in an hour! You can reduce the data consumption by reducing the quality to say 720p.
Since YouTube has this feature, you don't need to worry much about the bandwidth usage. There are other video apps such as Amazon Prime, where there is no quality control option. Amazon decides the quality based on the internet speed but there is no option by which you can reduce the quality. If you have a 100Mbps connection and you are watching a 4K movie, you will end up consuming more than 100GB data in 2 hours time.
Is there any workaround for this problem? Don't worry, I have a trick by which you can even control how much data such services can use. Stay tuned for my blog post on this topic!