Can I exit YouTube when a video is processing?

All digital videos have some form of encoding. Encoding often compresses the video, reducing its file size, and provides a standard for computers to decode and play the video. When you upload your company's videos to YouTube, the site will re-encode the files to conform to its own video standards. This helps Google serve the videos to viewers more quickly and provide a product compatible across all types of computers.

Video Encoding

When you shoot video, the camera saves the data with the highest possible quality for later editing. After editing the video, the editing program will encode the video using one of several codecs, such as H.264 or MPEG-2. This process integrates your edits into the video, and cuts down the video size by a significant factor at the cost of some image quality. It also provides compatibility with media players supporting that particular encoding scheme.

YouTube Processing

For the sake of ease of use, YouTube supports a wide range of codecs during upload, including Windows Media Video files and Apple's .MOV QuickTime files. Rather than play the uploaded files – which may have very large files sizes and not be compatible with all devices – directly back to viewers, YouTube re-encodes the files after uploading, further reducing file size and aligning them to a unified standard. YouTube also creates multiple versions of each video to allow playback at different resolutions.

Processing Delays

The time it takes YouTube to process a video will vary according to the video's original size and length, its formatting and the site's backlog. Unlike during encoding in your video editor, you can't see the current progress of your video encoding on YouTube. After the upload, YouTube will show a placeholder on the video's page until processing finishes. The entire process can take anywhere from minutes to several hours. If your video has not finished processing after eight hours, Google recommends deleting it and starting the upload over.

Suggestions

YouTube will create several versions of your video, starting with low-quality, low-resolution copies and working up to the highest resolution your original material supports. If you're in a hurry, you can share a video as soon as the low-resolution copies, such as 240p and 360p, become available. If you want your viewers to see the best quality, however, wait until all versions have finished processing before sharing a link to your video. You can check which resolutions have finished by clicking the gear icon below your video.

References

Writer Bio

Aaron Parson has been writing about electronics, software and games since 2006, contributing to several technology websites and working with NewsHour Productions. Parson holds a Bachelor of Arts from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash.

Image Credit

Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images

Is your uploaded YouTube video stuck at processing HD Version?

Or have you been waiting for hours for you YouTube to finish processing?

Are you unable to see chapters on your uploaded YouTube video even though you added timestamps?

If so, your video won’t be completely uploaded, a lot of features are going to be missing from your YouTube video.

Processing is a common problem on YouTube and a lot of people are frustrated by it.

Just imagine spending hours to edit your video just for it to be stuck at HD processing version, sad right?

One of the first solutions that come to mind is to cancel the video and start over.

This isn’t the best idea as it is likely to happen again on the second upload.

However, if you have already added your descriptions, tags, and all you can go ahead and publish your video.

However, know that your timestamps will not show because your video is not fully processed.

In this post, you’ll learn how to fix the YouTube processing HD version with few simple steps.

• What is processing HD version On YouTube?
• How long does it take for YouTube to process HD version?
• How Long Does 4K Processing Take on YouTube?
• How to Fix Processing HD Version Stuck on YouTube
• Why is YouTube taking so long to process HD?
• Can I Exit YouTube While A Video Is Processing?

What is processing HD version On YouTube?

Processing HD version on YouTube means that your video is in its highest quality (720p and higher).

It also means that YouTube is trying to make sure the highest quality is shown to the audience including lower qualities.

How long does it take for YouTube to process HD version?

HD version processing on YouTube usually takes about 10 minutes or longer (up to 7 hours) to complete.

It all depends on your internet connection, video format, quality and length.

As far as research goes, longer and high quality videos takes quite a time for YouTube to fully process it’s HD version.

How Long Does 4K Processing Take on YouTube?

A 4K video is the type of video that has a high-definition (HD) resolution that is four times the resolution of a 1080p HD video.

It takes between 2-4 hours for YouTube to completely process a 4K video.

However, all these depend on your internet connection, the frame rate of the video, and the length of the video.

So, the faster your internet connection is and the shorter the length of the video and frame rate, the faster your 4K video processes.

To fix YouTube video stuck at HD processing, you can either try to wait for a period of few minutes to 7 hours.

Always remember that you can still publish your video without HD version fully processed.

Most of the time HD processing continues to show even after days of publishing.

Sometimes, clearing your browser cookies can help in fixing the HD processing issue.

Even sending feedback to YouTube while on the upload page sometimes fixes the HD processing issue.

I once did it on an hour-long video and it worked after 10 minutes.

Finally, reverting your video to the original in the “Editor” after making a small change can jumpstart the processing speed.

Here are 4 basic ways to fix YouTube video stuck at HD processing version:

1. Waiting it out

This method sometimes works because your video taking long to process HD version can be due to its initial video size or format.

So, waiting for 20 minutes to 7 hours can do the trick.

Depending on your video size it can take longer than 7 hours, they are people who had to wait for over 2 days.

Just go ahead and publish your video, the HD processing issue is usually fixed on its own most of the time.

Either way, it is best to just be patient and wait it out.

Make sure to leave the tab open even after publishing, and eventually, the video might start processing after some time (it could be anywhere between 10 minutes to 7 hours or longer).

2. Clearing your browser cookies and cached files

The second way to fix the HD processing issue on YouTube is to clear your browser’s cookies and cache.

Depending on what browser you’re using to upload your video on YouTube.

I will be using screenshots from the Chrome android browser to demonstrate in this guide.

Make sure that before you clear the cache and cookies make sure you have published the video already to avoid losing any information.

Start by tapping on the three dots on the top right corner of Chrome on your android phone.

After you’ve clicked on the three dots, an off canvas menu will open.

On the off canvas menu, you’ll see several options including “New tab”, “New incognito tab”, and more.

Next, tap on “History” just above the Downloads option.

Then, a second tab like menu will open.
This time, tap on “Clear browsing data…” to go to the setting to clear your browsing data.

Immediately after you’ve tapped on “Clear browsing data…”, you’ll land on the “Clear browsing data” page.

On the “Clear browsing data” page, you’ll see the “Time range” in dropdown menu, tap on it and select “Last 24 hours”.

Next, check the “Cookies and site data” and “Cached image and files” checkboxes and then tap on “Clear data”.

This will sign you out of most sites including YouTube.

That means you may need to sign in back to YouTube later after this process.

This method will help free up any cached data preventing your Youtube video from uploading fully.

3. Send feedback to YouTube

The third way to fix YouTube video stuck at processing HD version is to send a feedback to YouTube while still on the upload page.

Tap on the “exclamation in a chat box” icon at the top right corner of the uploading page, type in something like:

“My video have been stuck at HD processing for hours now. Please fix!”

Next, tap on “Include screenshot” and then send.

Wait for at least 10 minutes, publish your video, close the tab.

If you login again and it should already be fixed.

4. Revert the video to it’s original state

The fourth and final method is trying to revert the video to it’s original state.

Note tha this method can only work if you have already published the video.

This method can be done by the following ways:

Go to the “Editor” categorized under channel analytics and make a small change, even as insignificant as adding a period to your description.

To find the “Editor” tab on YouTube, on your studio interface tap on channel analytics.

On that page, you will see “Latest Video”, click on the analytic icon to see video analytics of the particular video you want to edit.

On the right-hand side of the video analytics page, you will option like: “Comments”, “Edit”, and more.

Just tap on “Editor” and make any small change, revert changes and save.

Next, tap on “Save” and then once it’s processed, tap again on “Revert To Original Changes” and this usually takes care of the issue.

Why is YouTube taking so long to process HD?

It takes long to process HD version videos on YouTube because of many factors which can include: internet connectivity, bandwidth or YouTube server is busy.

Either way, it is best to apply these tips incase your YouTube is ever stuck on HD version processing.

Can I Exit YouTube While A Video Is Processing?

No, you should not exit YouTube while your video is still processing.

Unless you have background data turned on your device, then you can exit without closing your browser or YouTube app and continue doing other things in the background.

Conclusion

Sometimes YouTube processing can be tedious and almost an obstacle to you uploading your video especially when you have a schedule.

Although, these processing issue especially the one of HD version are inevitable even when you have done everything right.

You can opt to using the tips mentioned in this guide to fix your YouTube processing HD version issues.

However, do remember to back up your tags, video description, and title somewhere by copying and pasting them on a notepad or mobile note app.

This will save you the torture of having to rewrite anything if you decide re-upload the video on YouTube which rarely happens anyway.

Additional Reading

How Long Does It Take To Upload A Video To Youtube?

How To Share A Private YouTube Video

How To Fix “You’re offline. Please check your network connection” On YouTube In Windows 10

Can you close a YouTube studio when the video is processing?

Do you have to keep YouTube open while processing?