YouTube is investigating a bug causing low-res videos

YouTube is looking into an issue causing “lower than usual video quality” on iOS, desktop, and smart TVs. The platform says the apparent bug could make YouTube videos and shorts stream at 144p or 360p even with a strong internet connection.
Over the past week or so, many users on Reddit have reported having YouTube automatically set their video quality to low resolution. One user notes, “Every video I click on YouTube the quality automatically sets to 144p even if I try to manually change it higher, it just reverts back to 144p.”
Others found that when trying to switch to a higher video quality, the stream will start buffering. Trying to reset the device, changing the connection, or reinstalling the YouTube app doesn’t seem to help, either.
Though YouTube currently doesn’t have a fix, the company says it’s “actively looking into” the issue and will update its support thread with new information.