Do you have any issues using Google Chrome to play YouTube Shorts? This guide has some advanced fixes you can try if you’ve previously ruled out internet problems and restarted the browser a few times in vain.
Conflicting browser data or improperly configured browser settings are just two possible causes for this. If YouTube Shorts are your preferred form of entertainment, you wouldn’t want to overlook any entertaining or interesting YouTube material. We’ll provide some helpful troubleshooting advice to resolve the YouTube Shorts in Google Chrome issue.
1. TURN OFF HARDWARE ACCELERATION
When hardware acceleration is turned on in Google Chrome, the browser performs some graphically demanding operations using your GPU rather than your CPU. This feature, meanwhile, occasionally malfunctions and can stop websites like YouTube from streaming videos or shorts. This typically occurs if the feature is broken or your machine has outdated graphics hardware (onboard or dedicated). You can try turning off this feature to see if it clears the obstacle up for you.
Step 1: Open Google Chrome on your computer, click the three vertical dots menu at the top-right corner and select Settings from the list.
Step 2: Click on the System tab from the left sidebar, turn off the toggle next to ‘Use hardware acceleration when available.’
After that, restart Google Chrome to check if it plays YouTube Shorts and other videos easily.
2. TRY INCOGNITO MODE
Playing YouTube Shorts in the incognito window of Google Chrome is another option you have to test the functionality. You can avoid any disruptions brought on by third-party extensions, your browser’s cache, and cookies by using Google Chrome in incognito mode.
Click the three vertical dots menu in the top-right corner of Google Chrome and choose Create Incognito window from the context menu to launch an incognito window. Alternately, you can open a new incognito window in Google Chrome by pressing the shortcut Control+Shift+N.
If YouTube Shorts play normally in incognito mode, one of your extensions or existing browsing data might be causing the issue.
3. DISABLE EXTENSIONS
The functionality of YouTube Shorts in Google Chrome could be hindered by a conflicting browser extension. For instance, if you have a content blocker extension installed, it can conflict with Google Chrome and cause problems.
Disable them all if you are unclear of which extension is causing issues. In the address bar at the top, type chrome:/extensions and press Enter to accomplish this. Next, turn off each extension one by one using the toggles.
If doing this allows YouTube Shorts to play in Google Chrome, you can re-enable each extension individually to figure out which one is the problem. Consider upgrading or uninstalling the offending extension once you’ve located it.
4. CLEAR BROWSING DATA
Cookies and browser cache can speed up browsing, but they can sometimes be problematic. This typically occurs when browser data is corrupted or becomes out-of-date. In such scenario, you’ll need to clear the browsing history in Chrome by doing what’s shown below.Step 1: Press Ctrl + Shift + Delete (on Windows) or Command + Shift + Delete (on Mac) to open the Clear browsing data panel.
Step 2: Select All time in the Time range menu. Then, tick the boxes that read ‘Cookies and other site data’ and ‘Cached images and files.’
Lastly, click the Clear data button to proceed.
5. ENABLE JAVASCRIPT
Many websites, like YouTube, depend on JavaScript to play videos and provide other interactive features. YouTube Shorts won’t play if you unintentionally removed JavaScript in Google Chrome.
To enable JavaScript in Google Chrome, use these steps:
Step 1: In Google Chrome, click the three vertical dots menu at the top-right corner and select Settings.
Step 2: In the Privacy and security tab, click on Site Settings.
Step 3: Scroll down to the Content section and click on JavaScript.
Step 4: Under Default behavior, select the ‘Sites can use Javascript’ option.
Restart Chrome after this and check if the issue is still there.
6. CHECK YOUTUBE’S SERVER STATUS
Shorts could not play on Google Chrome if there is a server issue on YouTube’s end. Investigate this option by looking at Downdetector’s server status for YouTube.
Visit Downdetector
A message should appear at the top of YouTube if it is actually experiencing outage. In that case, you have no option but to wait for YouTube to get the servers up and running again.
7. RESET GOOGLE CHROME
Playback difficulties with YouTube Shorts can also be brought on by improperly configured browser settings and preferences. Hence, as a last resort, if nothing else works, you might think about resetting Google Chrome. This will remove all of your customised configurations and restore the browser to its factory settings.
Step 1: In Google Chrome, type chrome://settings/reset in the address bar and press Enter. Then, click the ‘Restore settings to their original defaults’ option.
Step 2: Click the Reset Settings button to confirm.
SHORT AND SWEET
Getting Google Chrome to play YouTube Shorts as normal is one of the aforementioned fixes. If not, use the YouTube app on your Android or iPhone to view brevity videos from your preferred YouTube creator.