How Much Data Does YouTube Use?

If you have your device connected to Wi-Fi everywhere you go, then you might hardly want to know how much data does YouTube use. But if you are using your mobile data, this might be one of the most frequent questions on your mind! Streaming platforms consume the maximum data, and YouTube is no exception!

Data usage depends on many factors, and this guide is going to get into the exact details and answer your question about how much data does YouTube use.

How Much Data Does A YouTube Video Use?

The data usage will depend upon the pixel rate you choose to view the video. The higher the video quality, the high will be the data usage. YouTube also uses the frames per second metrics. Frame rate is the measurement of how quickly a frame appears within a second.

YouTube already has a high FPS as compared to the other streaming platform. So the higher the FPS, the higher will be the data rate. Here’s an estimation of how much data does YouTube video use according to the Pixel Rate (P) and Frame per second (FPS):

How Much Data Does YouTube Music Use?

The data usage for YT music will differ from YouTube videos. The data rate here means the speed at which the audio is encoded. So the higher the data rate, the better quality of music you hear. Here’s a detailed description of approximately how much data YouTube music uses:

YouTube might use 1 GB if you are listening to music at high data rate in nearly 9 hours.

How To Reduce Data Usage On YouTube?

Now that you know how much data does YouTube use, you will want to keep track of it and probably reduce the data use. We have cumulated different ways that will help you to reduce data usage on YT:

View The YouTube Video In Low Quality

If you want to reduce data usage, you must avoid watching YT videos in high resolution. You won’t see blurry videos if that’s on your mind. It will reduce the quality of the video, but you’ll still view the video with clarity and without buffering. Here’s how you can reduce data usage on YouTube by viewing the video in low quality:

1. Open the YouTube app and sign in to your profile.

2. Now, open the video you want to watch and tap on the settings icon.

3. Then, tap on quality.

4. Select the Data saver option from the list.

Your YT video will now play in 240p.

Turn Off Auto Play On YouTube

Auto Play on YouTube is one of the best features that helps you watch related videos. But it’s definetly not a data saver! Therefore, you must turn off auto-play on YT.

1. Open YT on your phone and sign in to your account.

2. Tap on your profile icon.

3. Select settings.

4. Now tap Autoplay from the list.

5. Turn off the toggle beside mobile phone/tablet under the autoplay next video option.

Now, that’s one of the best ways to save data, and YouTube videos won’t play continuously.

Disable Muted Playback In Feeds On YouTube

When you open the YouTube app, you must have noticed that some videos start playing on the homepage. Although this is one of the best features that help creators get views on their YouTube videos, it also eats up a lot of data if you are a viewer. Therefore, you can choose to disable the playback feeds or switch it to Wi-Fi only. Here’s what you must do:

1. Open the YT app and tap on your profile picture on the right side.

2. Select settings.

3. Now go to general.

4. Select Muted playback in feeds from the options.

5. Now, you can either tap off if you do not want the videos to play in the feed at all. But if you want the videos to play in the feeds only when you’re using the Wi-Fi, then you can choose the Wi-Fi only option too.

Set The Video Quality Preference To Save Data

Switching to low quality for all the videos can be a little time-consuming. Or sometimes, you might simply forget to make changes to the video quality. Therefore, you can simply set the YouTube video quality preference to save data by default. Here’s what you need to do to access these settings:

1. Open the YT app and tap on your profile picture on the right side.

2. Select settings.

3. Now, go to video quality preferences.

4. Finally, tap the data saver.

Now that you have an answer to how much data does YouTube use, you can now keep a close track of the usage. You can also decrease data usage by following the methods we have mentioned. Or you can simply switch to the YouTube premium version to download the videos while your device is connected to Wi-Fi and download YT videos to save your mobile data.