Youtube videos stutter during play

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Description of the issue:
When playing youtube videos in Brave and Brave Beta, videos tend to stutter and stop while audio continues playing. Sometimes both audio and video stop.

Steps to Reproduce (add as many as necessary):

  1. Play youtube video; some videos that suffer the most from this issue are:

  1. Scroll down to comment section until video is not visible; another way to trigger this issue is to click on another tab and then back

  2. Video freezes while audio keeps playing. Sometimes, the video fast forwards while the audio continues at normal speed. Then the audio and video both stop and buffer.

Reproduces how often:
Some youtube channels have very repeatable stuttering in all videos, while others seem to have little stuttering. The issue is more repeatable when videos are played at 2x speed.

Brave Build and Version(ex., "Brave Beta, v1.14.73):
Version 1.19.88 Chromium: 88.0.4324.96 (Official Build) (64-bit)
Version 1.20.85 Chromium: 88.0.4324.96 (Official Build) beta (64-bit)

Reproducible on current live release (yes/no):
Yes, but it is slightly less severe than on Brave Beta

2

@Jason_the_Gamer,

Can you try disabling Hardware Acceleration in settings to see if this resolves the issue?

You’ll find this in Settings --> Additional Settings --> System --> Hardware Acceleration

4 Likes
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Hi. I play these videos without problem. Try to disable all your add-ons/extensions , to ensure that not one of them cause the problem.

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@Mattches @BugLocker I turned off hardware acceleration and tried the videos in private mode with no extensions. The issue is still easily reproducible.

1 Like
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Try the same video with another browser. If the problem remain , it is not related with the brave.

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I actually did come to ask myself whether or not any other browsers show the same behavior?

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@BugLocker @Mattches I tested the videos in Chrome and Firefox. Chrome has the issue while Firefox does not. This might be a Chromium-Youtube interaction problem.

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If that is true why i dont have the same problem ? It looks like there is a problem with Chromium based browsers at your system.
Try a clean install for Chrome or Brave to check if it solves the issue.

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@Jason_the_Gamer ,
I would actually recommend trying a fresh profile and see if you get the same results when streaming video content.

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@BugLocker @Mattches I tried the fresh profile. It didn’t work. I also tried a fresh reinstall of Brave. The issue still occurs.

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I wonder if this is a bandwidth problem at your home location, or where ever you are. Here are some possible bandwidth issues to look at. The stuttering/pausing of videos could mean your internet connection, either the wifi part or the main wired connection that goes into your home, cannot keep up with the load.

  1. Wifi is less reliable due to interference of the wifi signal with other signals. That’s why I use a desktop with a wired connection to get the max speed.
  2. Wifi signals can bounce around your house and around walls but will weaken as they do so. Get closer to your Wifi point and try a test. Is that better?
  3. It could be other people at your location (like home) are pushing lots of data over the same local/home network that is causing problems, especially with hi def videos. This is especially true if multiple people at the house just leave streaming audio or videos on all day long. Try a low-def video instead. Or log off some people at your home and do a test of the same video.
  4. Try a different location with the same device and video, so you are using someone else’s Wifi.
  5. If it’s not a Wifi issue then it could be the internet connection your Wifi connects to is just too busy. Connection speeds, especially for ISP home packages, are not a guarantee in the US, they are a goal. Lots of people in your neighborhood streaming lots of hi-def stuff will slow down your connection as you all share a connection with cable internet.
  6. Satellite internet speeds are affected by bad weather and cloud cover, which can reduce speed and cause stuttering.
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@therium I don’t think it is a bandwidth problem. The test videos work perfectly in Firefox, but not Chrome or Brave. My home bandwidth is also pretty high. Youtube doesn’t register the buffering as a bandwidth issue, so it’s an issue on my computer or browser.

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I have the same issue, I have found out that the videos that do stutter use the avc codec instead of vp9.

1 Like
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@whitefly You might have a point. Both of my test videos use the AVC codec. However, I did find some contradictory evidence. This video uses the vp9 codec and has no problems, but this one uses the same codec but has the aforementioned issue. Also, this video uses the AVC codec and doesn’t experience the issue.

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So that narrows down the issue to videos that play at 60fps and 2x speed. The VP9 video that doesn’t stutter is 25fps. The third video is AV1 another codec other than AVC.
What can cause this any guesses?

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Update: Chrome no longer seems to experience this issue. Brave still does. I still suspect it has something to do with Chromium.

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Just did a quick test. While listening to: https://youtu.be/glggureA_Kk

Crackling and popping of audio within first 10 seconds of play in both Chrome and Brave. NO crackling and popping in Firefox. I didn’t notice any video stuttering but it could be subtle.

I believe this is a current and ongoing, Chromium issue. This post is from Oct '19.

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On the newest Brave Stable Version 1.20.110 Chromium: 88.0.4324.192 (Official Build) (64-bit), I am no longer able to replicate this issue. I think it has been fixed. The issue also seems fixed in Chrome.

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