YouTube joins Netflix in reducing video quality in Europe

YouTube is decreasing the quality of its videos in Europe as an increase in home use is taxing the internet on the continent during the new coronavirus outbreak, Reuters reports. “We are committed to temporarily switching all traffic in the EU to standard definition by default,” the company said in a statement.

The decision came after EU industry chief Thierry Breton called on streaming platforms to help reduce their burden on the continent’s infrastructure. Internet traffic increases as more people spend time at home in accordance with the social distance guidelines during the pandemic. There is concern about the strain this could create on the internet infrastructure and further hinder teleworkers and e-learning activities as businesses and schools are closed.

The decision follows Netflix’s announcement that it will lower the bit rate of its streams for 30 days, trying to cut network traffic by 25 percent. Video streaming is an important source of internet traffic, BBC news notes, in addition to game downloads, while external work technologies such as webmail and video conferencing are believed to put relatively less of a burden on networks.

However, ISPs have emphasized that their networks have enough room to meet the increased demand. British telecom provider BT recently make a statement in which it said that while traffic has increased by 35 to 60 percent during the day on weekdays, it is still half the average peak usage in the evening, and “nowhere near” the full capacity of its network. Vodafone and TalkTalk, which also provide services to UK households, presented a similar picture guarantees BBC news despite the fact that there is also more web traffic.