Ask HN: Does anyone else notice YouTube causing 100% CPU usage and stattering?
50 comments
·September 19, 2025camhart
If the video is encoded using a codec your hardware doesn't handle, it would be left up to the CPU to decode. Av1 can slow everything down to a crawl over CPU. You'd think the browser would be smart about the stream selection though.
jsheard
> You'd think the browser would be smart about the stream selection though.
That's intentional on YouTubes end, they usually prioritize more bitrate-efficient codecs even if the client doesn't have hardware accelerated decoding for them. It's annoying but at their scale it probably saves them a shitload of bandwidth.
nine_k
I run an extension that allows to automatically request h.264 streams from YouTube even when av1 is also available. Saves a lot of CPU, at the cost of some bandwidth.
cosmic_cheese
It’s funny that this kind of browser extension has recurred over the years. Originally it was to replace the awful CPU hog flash player with an HTML5 h.264 player[1], then it was to sidestep YouTube’s insistence on VP* codecs, and now it’s to sidestep AV1.
[1]: https://web.archive.org/web/20110302145602/http://www.vertic...
yonatan8070
What's the name of the addon?
I recall h264ify but not sure about it
null
acheong08
Tried [Invidious](https://github.com/iv-org/invidious)? It's really lightweight. I host my own instance: https://iv.duti.dev and it works wonders (Librewolf with strictest fingerprint resist)
barrenko
I have like 4 simple tabs and my Chrome is hogging 1.8GBs of RAM.
SoftTalker
I pretty much only watch YouTube via the app on my phone, rarely in a browser. I also pay for Premium. Have not noticed any recent/new issues.
RisingFusion
If you have an adblocker it might be intentional.
crazygringo
That's not plausible.
If someone sees, oh YouTube is making my computer hot, the last thing that's going to occur to them is, "wait let me try turning off my adblocker."
When corporations try to change people's incentives, they are obvious about it, so people know what to change.
In contrast, changing CPU usage on video playback for people who use adblockers and then not telling anyone is... just not a strategy that makes any sense at all.
hedora
Sure it is. They’ve done crap like make firefox or safari run hot on other Google properties in the past.
Is it incompetence or sabotage? Who knows. The first rule of sabotage is to be indistinguishable from incompetence.
j45
It might be worth finding out what codec might be coming down the pipe in any case.
mwkaufma
Hanlon's Razor: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon%27s_razor
slacktivism123
>Hanlon's Razor
Sorry, but drive-by philosophy is not applicable here.
YouTube developers single out adblocker users and taunt them with an "Experiencing interruptions" toast prompt that locks the video stream for ~5 seconds. Curiously, it contains a link to the YouTube Help Center, to the section fragment "#check_ad_blockers". In other words: "yeah, we know you've got uBlock Origin enabled, enjoy the speedbump".
Player base.js:
api.XL("innertubeCommand",{openPopupAction:{popup:{notificationActionRenderer:{responseText:{runs:[{text:"Experiencing interruptions?"}]},actionButton:{buttonRenderer:{style:"STYLE_OVERLAY",size:"SIZE_DEFAULT", text:{runs:[{text:"Find out why"}]},navigationEndpoint:{commandMetadata:{webCommandMetadata:{url:"https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/3037019#check_ad_blockers
ses1984
I’m sorry but big tech doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt.
jitix
Google does - Google search and maps have gotten objectively worse over the past 2 years. At least in Canada.
I have 38 locations in my (huge) city saved in Google maps and it breaks when I ask it to find a way from point A to point B. Works fine when logged out.
Maps also put traffic signals where there are none, and while finding shortest path it stopped putting weights to traffic signals. So you could have it route you via a city's main street instead of the freeway because it's 2km shorter but it ignores the 9 traffic signals that wastes 15 mins. Apple maps works fine.
Google search on web has adopted bad UX, and clicking a map or a shopping item has a noticeable delay between. Also right click "Open in new tab" options are gone.
Are you saying all these "enshittification" changes are deliberate?
mwkaufma
The benefit of the doubt... that corps _don't_ write clunky, slow software?
bArray
I have noticed Google sites showing what looks like some form of memory leak. Typically it's only Microsoft websites doing this.
burgerrito
This memory leak happens very often to me in GitHub, not sure why, and not sure if it's Microsoft's fault, or Firefox's. I actually have no idea at all on how to debug this...
snickerdoodle14
Firefox Console > Memory > Enable record call stacks, reload the page, take a snapshot, wait until you notice memory grows, take another snapshot. Then compare the two: https://firefox-source-docs.mozilla.org/devtools-user/memory.... You can also try a performance recording.
But you probably won't be able to make much sense of the results without a lot of effort because of all the minimization/obfuscation.
DrNosferatu
A great (free and O.S.) Android client with ad blocker is
https://github.com/polymorphicshade/Tubular
it also integrates SponsorBlock!
eXpl0it3r
Will Google ban your account if you login?
liquidise
Disabling “Ambient Mode” in the settings helps cpu usage a lot on my intel MBA.
zarzavat
Thought it was just me! This started happening just today.
orsev
Have only noticed this on my Windows machine, not any of my Macs. The windows machine has enough horsepower to use most of it's 2000w power supply, so I don't think it's a hardware issue. Using firefox engine & an adblocker fwiw.
jjbinx007
YouTube is pretty shocking in Firefox, even worse with an ad blocker.
shakna
The experience suddenly gets mysteriously better if you switch your user agent to Chrome's, though.
cosmic_cheese
Sounds like an unnecessary polyfill.
WD-42
I like imagine the stuttering and jagged reflows are the result of uBlock origin violently battling the page and destroying all the ads.
Pretty much becomes unusable