Tip: Use YouTube HTML5 to Save CPU Resources

Anybody who is a master of multitasking is a fan of YouTube. There's so much useful and entertaining content on YouTube that it's perfect for streaming media in the background while working on a project. Unfortunately, YouTube is a large application that eats up precious CPU resources and may slow down your computer.

Experiencing a slowdown with your PC because of YouTube is a bummer because it means you have to find an alternative media player to stream from, and let's face it, there's really no other place on the Internet that can match YouTube's content.

What's a good multitasker to do? Use an inferior media website so your PC will run properly? Thanks to YouTube's new HTML5 version, you don't have to settle for inferior content, instead, you can use the HTML5 version to watch videos and save 95% of your CPU's resources.

YouTube is offering the HTML5 as a trial version, so it may have some bugs while it's under development, but the general conscientious among users is that the HTML5 version is smoother at streaming. To try out YouTube HTLM5 for yourself, go to YouTube's HTML5 opt-in page and log into your YouTube account. If you see three green checkmarks next to "Video tag," "h.264," and "WebM," then you should see a fourth green checkmark below that confirms, "You are currently in the HTML5 trial."

If one of the checkmarks is red, then you will need to update your web browser. YouTube has posted links for upgrading five different web browsers listed under "Supported Browsers." After upgrading your web browser, you should see three green checkmarks. Now, proceed to watch videos and you should notice a less clunky YouTube experience.

Running YouTube HTML5, you may face some limitations, like not being able to display full screen with some videos, and videos with ads aren't supported and will load with Adobe Flash. You will also run into the problem of Firefox and Opera not supporting videos with WebM transcodes. At this stage in development, YouTube HTML5 seems to work best with Google Chrome.

If you try out YouTube HTML5 for yourself and you happen to encounter a problem, YouTube is encouraging that you message them with feedback so they can make fixes before HTML5 is officially launched. Using YouTube HTML5 should increase your computer's performance compared to using the regular version of YouTube.

If your computer is still lagging, then something other than YouTube is the problem. To receive help isolating the problem, give Directive a call at 607.433.2200. Our experienced technicians can find the problem, and even take care of many problems remotely with our managed IT services. Ask Directive about how we can improve the performance of your technology so that your technology can work for you!