Black screen instead of video on Youtube – what to do?

Black screen instead of video playback on Youtube may appear due to various reasons. In many cases, the problem is caused by incorrect browser settings, extensions, ad blockers, and sometimes hardware acceleration. There are several effective solutions to fix Youtube black screen.

Check your internet connection

Before applying the solutions, check if your Internet connection is stable and the speed at which it works. If the connection is unstable, it can prevent all video from loading, show a black screen when it “hangs”, and sometimes only output audio.

Also check that Internet access is organized without using a proxy server or VPN client. Check that the neighboring computers are not consuming too much traffic, it is possible that one of them is ing large files via torrent. Also, check the network load on your PC.

Clear browsing history

Data cached by your browser when you visit websites, including cookies, cache, and browsing history, can also cause you to see a black screen instead of a YouTube video. This data can accumulate to the point where the browser begins to freeze heavily. To clear history, follow these steps

Open Google Chrome and press the Ctrl + Shift + Delete key combination to bring up the Clear History window. Open the time range dropdown and select “All Time”. The checked options will be enough to fix the black screen, so leave everything as default and click the “Clear data” button.

After cleaning, restart your browser and check if the Youtube video plays.

Browser update to the latest version

Youtube playback issues can also occur on an outdated version of your browser. You may still be using the Adobe Flash Player plug-in, which is no longer ed by YouTube. Run the video in another browser to check it. If you are successful, update the "problematic" one to the latest version.

Click the menu icon in the top right corner and then go to Help – About Google Chrome.

The browser will automatically check for and install any available updates. Once installed, restart Chrome and try to play the video that failed to start due to black screen.

Disable extensions

If the black screen remains after clearing history, check if browser extensions are causing the problem. Try updating all enabled extensions and uninstalling the ones you don't use. If nothing changes after these actions, disable all of them.

In the address bar, type chrome://extensions and confirm with Enter.

First of all, disable extensions designed to block ads (AdBlock). These have been known to cause problems when playing Youtube, including a black screen because they try to remove the ads and the video refuses to display in response.

If the problem persists, disable all extensions, then restart your browser and check if the video plays.

Disable hardware acceleration

Hardware acceleration redirects some tasks to the GPU to offload the U. This feature can improve system performance, but sometimes it can lead to unexpected issues like a black screen when trying to play a Youtube video. Therefore, try to disable it.

In Google Chrome, click on the menu icon with three vertical dots and go to “Settings”.

Scroll down the page and click "Advanced". Find the System section and under the “Use hardware acceleration (if available)” option, toggle the switch to the “Off” position. Then a “Reset” button will appear. Click it to restart the app and apply the changes you've made.

Now check if the black screen has disappeared. If it remains, you can always undo the changes by re-enabling this option.

If this method doesn't work, try disabling hardware-accelerated video decoding.

In the address bar, type chrome: // flags / and confirm with Enter.

In the navigation bar, type Hardware accelerated video decoding. If this parameter appears, disable it by changing its value to “Off”. You will be prompted to reboot, confirm by pressing the “Reboot” button.

Use software rendering for IE and Edge

It is a well-known fact that Google Chrome requires hardware acceleration to work effectively. This case is exactly the opposite for Microsoft Edge, as it prefers software rendering to make its processes smoother. Try changing these settings in the browser properties.

Open the system search bar with the Windows + S key combination. Type “Browser Properties” and click on the first result.

In the Advanced tab, under the graphics acceleration option, check the box “Use software rendering instead of GPU”. Apply the changes and restart the computer.

Check playback after

Sometimes it is possible to get rid of the black screen after logging out of your Youtube . Try this and see if it fixes the problem.

Also try running Chrome in incognito mode. It is very likely that you will not have video playback problems in this mode. To do this, open a tab, right-click on the menu icon and select “New window in incognito mode”.

Update graphics drivers

A black screen can also occur due to faulty or outdated graphics card drivers. Try updating or reinstalling them using the DDU utility and see if it fixes the Youtube video playback issue.

Open Device Manager with the command devmgmt.msc from the Win + R window.

Pull down the Video adapters tab, right-click on the graphics device in use and select “Update driver”.

In the next window, select "Search automatically for updated drivers" and follow the instructions until the process is complete.

You can also the latest version of the driver from the video card manufacturer's website, and after installing it, check if the problem is resolved.