Most of us know the hassle of being in an airport terminal and using YouTube to escape boredom, just to have the streaming come to an abrupt halt via a buffering animation.
Regardless where the streaming drop catches you, the experience is irritating, but YouTube aims to fix that. Thanks to the new pilot program dubbed YouTube Accelerator, the streaming company will allow users to watch more content while waiting significantly less.
The pilot, which wants to make the streaming and buffering video hiccups a thing of the past, is currently tested in the Philippines. The idea behind the project is to distribute the load on shared Wi-Fi networks in a more efficient manner, and it does so by storing popular videos and caching them locally on a hotspot.
The 100,000 supported videos can be accessed much quicker because the streaming only happens on the select hotspot.
"The key to Accelerator is local caching. Select hotspots receive YouTube content and store them locally," YouTube explains.
The local caching of videos should help people who typically share airport terminals to watch videos without causing each other huge loading times. This tends to happen when a big number of passengers share a network and attempt to watch content from various Internet sources.
YouTube Accelerated videos will be visually recognizable by the logo, and the company says that they work seamlessly on the Android version of the app. The developers promised to roll out Windows and iOS variants, as soon as possible.
Should you find yourself at one of the testing locations, make sure you are on the right Wi-Fi network before enjoying Accelerated videos. You can filter your YouTube's results to only display the 100,000 supported that the company boasts are available.
The FAQ answers additional questions concerning the program. For example, it might interest you to know that full HTTPS streaming and end-to-end security was deployed in the initiative. This ensures that the public Wi-Fi hotspot is as safe as it gets, provided you only use YouTube's app for video watching.
By going to the FAQ page you may also track down the exact locations where the YouTube Accelerator is online.
Last year, YouTube introduced Video Quality Report. The service allows users to verify and rate the performance of their ISP depending on the video fidelity they experience.
