Buffering may be the most annoying part of streaming, but a new study suggests the solution could be surprisingly simple.
Instead of pausing your video to buffer, streaming platforms could slow it down a bit so that it plays smoothly instead of getting stuck and you might not even notice.
Researchers at Lancaster University have found that viewers prefer subtle changes in playback speed to interruptions. If your video pauses while loading, it’s because the player has run out of data. Slowing down playback gives you more time to catch up and avoids that abrupt pause altogether.
Can it actually feel better to slow down the video than to buffer it?
The research found that slight drops in video quality are often less noticeable than buffering. By combining small quality and speed adjustments, interruptions could be reduced even further.
The study found a sweet spot where reducing playback speed to 90% is barely noticeable. In many cases, depending on the content, even 80% speed went unnoticed. However, if you turn the value down to 70%, it becomes increasingly distracting.
Viewers were also happy with up to 30% faster playback speeds. This helps keep live streams like sporting events near real-time by adjusting the speed to manage latency.
This also prevents sudden jumps that can cause you to miss important moments like goals, especially in live games.
How this could change your viewing experience on streaming platforms
The results come from multiple studies with over 200 participants and hundreds of test clips from genres such as sports, drama and gaming. The aim was to understand what actually bothers viewers the most.
The answer is clear. You’d rather watch a slightly different video than have to deal with constant pauses due to buffering.
This could change the way streaming platforms are designed. Instead of freezing playback, future players could silently adjust the speed and quality in the background to keep things running smoothly.
Similarly, studies have also shown that when apps load too quickly or too slowly, it can feel like a longer wait, and that a moderate pace can actually make the loading experience feel faster.
If widely adopted, this approach could finally make buffering sound like a problem of the past, or at least something you barely notice anymore.
