What to Do When Experiencing the YouTube Green Screen

Many users stumble upon the black screen on YouTube, in which case they won’t be able to watch the videos that they want to watch. Unfortunately, while you may have already solved that problem and learned how to deal with it in future situations, a new threat has arrived. The YouTube green screen has recently been added to the list of what you should be wary of.

In fact, it might be a bit more difficult to handle since it’s obviously weirder than the black screen. With that said, you’ll have to look for more innovative solutions. You don’t have to worry though, because this tutorial will help you handle the YouTube green screen by providing you with possible solutions as well as the origins of the problem.

Everything You Need to Know About YouTube Green ScreenMethod 1: Use a Different BrowserMethod 2: Disable Hardware AccelerationMethod 3: Disable Hyper-VMethod 4: Update your DriverMethod 5: Change Your Display SettingsMethod 6: Run the TroubleshooterMethod 7: Change Video Resolution/QualityConclusion

Everything You Need to Know About YouTube Green Screen

Why would 'YouTube Green Screen' happen?

YouTube may show a green screen due to the following reasons:

• Hardware Acceleration of the Browser or System
• Outdated or Corrupt Graphics Driver of the System
• Outdated OS of the Device or System
• Corrupt Browser or YouTube App Installation

Although people tend to think of the YouTube green screen as only one issue, there are actually many possible versions of this issue. To give you a better idea, here are some of the issues that you’ll face regarding the YouTube green screen:

• A distorted screen. There are users that have reported that their screens experience a distortion in addition to the annoying green screen. This is often caused by an outdated graphics driver and updating them will fix this.
• Although the green screen is already difficult enough to handle, the situation can get worse once the website starts to crash immediately.
• Audio only. In rare cases, the video is not available, only showing a green screen, but the audio is still good as new without any issues.
• Green Screen Doesn’t Discriminate. The YouTube green screen is not an issue that is exclusive to operating systems or browsers. It can happen to Firefox, Chrome, Opera, and many more. Additionally, the screen can also occur on Windows 8, 7, 10, and other versions.

There are many causes of the YouTube green screen happening on your device. As such, you can’t expect that the solution will be one-size-fits-all. There are many solutions to this problem, but let’s start with the easiest fix.

Method 1: Use a Different Browser

Although we’ve said previously that the error doesn’t discriminate, there are cases where using a different browser can fix the problem. In particular, the YouTube green screen is most commonly seen on Internet Explorer. This will also allow you to know if the problem lies on the browser or on the computer.

Now if the problem was fixed with this solution, you can assume that the problem was caused by the browser, if not, then it’s definitely caused by the computer itself. Regardless, make sure to try out another browser first before really going for a more advanced and complicated solution.

Method 2: Disable Hardware Acceleration

Hardware acceleration is usually enabled since it allows the browser to play videos easier and better to provide a better user experience. This is because it hands over the workload to the GPU when the CPU can’t handle it anymore.

Put simply, hardware acceleration is really beneficial, but it can also be said that it can be problematic at times. This is because it can cause all kinds of issues, and that includes the YouTube green screen you are experiencing right now.

So you should try disabling this feature on your browser, and that’s why we have this guide on how to do it on Chrome, Firefox, and Edge. Let’s start with the most commonly used browser, Google Chrome.

Guide for Chrome Users

Since Chrome is the most commonly used browser, they have made several adjustments to cater to the needs of their users.

For that reason, configuring the settings will be relatively easy. Here’s how you can disable the hardware acceleration feature on your Chrome browser:

1. Open the Chrome
2. Click on the three vertical dots which should open the Menu.
3. Select Settings from the menu.
4. Scroll down until you see Advanced, which you should then click to view all options.
5. Scroll down then under the System section, click on Use hardware acceleration when available.
6. Restart Google Chrome then see if the YouTube green screen issue still persists.

Guide for Firefox Users

Considering that the interface of Google Chrome resembles that of Firefox, the process of disabling the hardware acceleration feature would be almost the same:

1. Open the Firefox
2. Click on the three horizontal bars which should be the Menu
3. On the menu, select Options with the gear icon at its left.
4. Scroll down until you see the Performance In this section, check the box for Use recommended performance settings and for the Use hardware acceleration when available.
5. Now restart your Firefox browser and see if the YouTube green screen problem is solved.

Guide for Microsoft Edge Users

Now we head to the built-in browser of Windows OS:

1. Press the Win key on your keyboard.
2. Type in “Settings” and click the Settings app that would show up on the search results.
3. The next window will give you a list of options. Select System.
4. On the left side of the window, click on Display with the monitor symbol.
5. Scroll down and click on the gray-colored option that says “Graphics settings”.
6. Click on the Choose an app to set preference.
7. Now click on the first drop-down then select Universal app, then set the second drop-down to Microsoft Edge, then click on the Add
8. Once the Microsoft Edge is added, click on Options.
9. On the window that will pop up, select Power saving under Set graphics preference.
10. Click on the Save
11. Restart your Microsoft Edge browser and check if the problem is solved.

With that, you should be able to disable hardware acceleration on these three browsers and hopefully fix the YouTube green screen issue. Remember that hardware acceleration isn’t available on all browsers so you can’t do this on other browsers such as Opera or Safari.

The solutions that we’ve discussed up until this point was designed to help you solve the YouTube green screen issue assuming that the browser was the problem. That’s why our next solutions will involve solving the issue if the culprit is the computer.

Method 3: Disable Hyper-V

In the previous section, we talked about how to disable the hardware acceleration, which is a feature on browsers that allows for better user experience. But what if there is more than one feature that causes issues in playing videos?

This is the case for the Hyper-V feature, which is available on Windows by default. Hyper-V is a feature that follows the same concept as the hardware acceleration, and as you might expect, it can also cause several issues including YouTube green screen. With that said, here are the steps to disable the Hyper-V feature:

1. Press the Win key on your keyboard.
2. Type in “windows features” on the search bar.
3. Select the Turn Windows features on or off option from the search results.
4. A list of Windows features should be popping up. Locate the Hyper-V and disable this feature, including the ones that are related to it.
5. Now click on the OKbutton to save the changes you’ve made.

After the Hyper-V is disabled, there should be fewer issues on your device. However, remember that it is a Windows feature. So if you’re not using a Windows operating system, then you’d be better off using another solution for fixing the YouTube green screen.

Method 4: Update your Driver

Your graphics driver plays a crucial role in making sure that videos or any graphic components are played without any problems. Thus, having an outdated driver can cause a lot of bugs that result in videos being displayed improperly, hence the YouTube green screen.

Updating your graphics driver usually fixes these problems and there are two ways to do this.

The first one is manually downloading the driver on the official website of the manufacturer, although this is only for Windows users. Mac users can only update their drivers automatically through these steps:

1. Go to the Apple menu by clicking on the Apple logo on your screen.
2. Select Software Update from the Apple menu.
3. If the update is available, you can install the macOS update. If not, then the problem might not be due to an outdated driver since it is already updated.

Now for Windows users, you can also update your driver automatically by following the steps carefully:

1. Head to the My Computer folder then right-clicks on it.
2. Select Manage.
3. This should give you a pop-up window. On the left side of the window, click on Device Manager.
4. On the right side, you’ll see a list of options. Find and expand Display Adapters.
5. You will be given the name of the Display Adapter you are using. Right-click on it and select Update Driver Software…
6. You will be taken to another window yet again. Select Search automatically for updated driver software. This should automatically find and update your driver.
7. Restart the PC once this is done.

Some users have reported that this option isn’t available for them. This is because they already have updated software. In that case, you should look for another option to fix the YouTube green screen as well.

Method 5: Change Your Display Settings

Another solution you can use is simply changing the display settings of your device. This is because when your monitor is putting too much workload on its CPU, the videos will often malfunction. Thus, you need to reduce the workload you put on the monitor.

This can be done by changing your display settings, and here’s how you can do this:

1. Press the Win key on your keyboard to access the Start
2. On the left side of the menu, click on Control Panel.
3. Now select Appearance and Personalization.
4. Click on Display.
5. On the left side of the window, click on Change display settings.
6. Here you can configure your settings. You may also select Advanced settings to get into the more advanced configurations.
7. On the Advanced settings, go to the Troubleshoot
8. Now click on Change settings.
9. Wait for the process to complete.
10. Click on the OKbutton to save changes.

At this point, the tool should’ve set the recommended settings for your monitor. Speaking of recommended settings, it’s also worth knowing that the troubleshooter allows you to set the configurations of your computer in the best way possible.

Method 6: Run the Troubleshooter

A troubleshooter is a tool that allows you to fix issues and bugs automatically by turning your computer to its best shape. This can include solving the YouTube green screen. You can access the troubleshooter by following these steps:

1. Press the Win key on your keyboard to go to the Start
2. Type in “troubleshoot” on the search bar.
3. Click on Troubleshooting on the search results.
4. You will be taken to the Troubleshooting Select Hardware and Sound.
5. The window should load for a while. Under the Device section, click on Hardware and Devices.
6. You will be given another window. Proceed by clicking on the Next
7. Wait for the process to complete.

This should solve some of the issues on your device, and hopefully the YouTube green screen too. If this doesn’t solve the problem, then the issue is perhaps caused by the video itself.

Method 7: Change Video Resolution/Quality

How do I fix the green screen on YouTube? In the case of the video being the culprit, all you have to do is adjust the video quality. This can be done by following these steps:

1. On the YouTube video, go to the Settings by clicking on the Gear icon.
2. Click on the Quality from the Settings
3. Now select the video quality you want to switch to. Switching to a lower quality is preferred so it can make it easier for the browser to load the video.

Once the video quality is changed, the YouTube green screen will be less likely to appear.

Now repeat this for every video where you encounter the problem. These solutions should hopefully solve the problem once and for all.

Conclusion

YouTube is one of the most used platforms on the internet. Although it’s not a social media platform, it can be considered as one of their competitors. However, it can be said that YouTube is far from perfect. There are many issues on the platform, including endless buffering, low video quality, and of course, the YouTube green screen.

Fortunately, there are ways to deal with it, but that doesn’t change the fact that it can be annoying when it happens so frequently. For that reason, you should always take care of your computer by running the troubleshooter once in a while or updating your driver regularly.