What Do You Do When YouTube Freezes in the Middle of an Upload?

If YouTube freezes in the middle of a video upload, your browser may be the cause of the issue. If the browser you're using is outdated, or if one or more plugins interfere with it, you can experience stalling, crashing or failing uploads. If you're uploading content, especially high-resolution or high-definition videos to your YouTube channel, updating your browser can solve problems because newer versions include up-to-date technology to improve upload speeds. Google Chrome and Firefox can upload files up to 20GB. In addition, they can recover failed uploads in the event of a crash or a freeze. Internet Explorer with an updated version of Silverlight can also upload up to 20GB of video and recover failed uploads. If you're using Google Chrome, you can also switch to an incognito window to exclude plugins and extensions that can interfere with YouTube uploads. Firefox Private Browser also excludes extensions that can cause upload problems.

Even with a broadband connection speed that meets YouTube's requirements, YouTube can freeze in the middle of a video upload if your network suddenly stalls or stops working completely. Causes of network connection problems vary with different users; however, busy wireless connection signals and problems with the Internet service provider are common causes of upload problems. If you're unable open other browsing pages and other network-intensive applications in addition to the YouTube video uploading problems, restarting your wireless router can solve simple network connection issues. If the router is the problem, connecting the computer directly to a modem using an Ethernet cable bypasses the router, which can actually improve the stability of your connection at the cost of your wireless network. If your network connection problem persists, contacting your ISP for additional device-specific troubleshooting is the last solution.

Believe it or not, security software such as firewalls and anti-virus programs can actually interfere with YouTube video uploads while they're protecting your computer. Many of these programs are designed to stop communications that may appear suspicious. Even though uploading a YouTube video isn't a malicious, security-threatening activity, your security program may think otherwise if it's not properly configured to allow such communications. If you're running a firewall or anti-virus program that supports real-time scanning, temporarily disable it before uploading your YouTube video. When the uploading process completes, turn your security software back on to decrease the chances of unauthorized network intrusions, malware infiltration and other security problems that can diminish your computer's performance.

YouTube supports videos in a variety of formats such as MPEG, MOV, 3GPP and FLV. However, it currently doesn't support videos in formats such as WLMP. Before attempting to upload a video, always verify it's in a compatible format or you'll run into problems if an error message doesn't first appear on the upload screen. YouTube's video requirements such as size limit are always changing. If your video doesn't meet the current guidelines, you'll run into freezing problems, so it's always important to adhere to the upload requirements and limitations on the video upload screen before attempting to post a video.