You were looking forward to watching your favorite shows on YouTube late at night. As you clicked on the thumbnail, waiting for it to load, nothing appeared except a black screen. This the infamous ‘YouTube black screen.’ Many users experience it worldwide. It is the most reported issue on the world’s largest video content platform.
Sometimes the problem resolves on its own without making any effort. But when it doesn’t, you have to look for the hidden issue and fix it. Several reasons contribute to the black screen. Luckily you have solutions for each. Below are the most common problems and how to fix them without taking any external help.
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Free online tool for video repair
When your YouTube video shows a black screen, fix it with an easy and effective method—a video repair application. Check out the app store. There are many apps available but you should pick the one that is easy to use and guarantees extraordinary results in no time. One such tool is Wondershare Repairit.
The video repair application is easy to use and offers extensive usage. From video corruption to a black screen and from grainy video to audio syncing, Repairit can fix it all. It is different from other applications; you will experience its wonderful features as you use it. And did we tell you that the software comes at no cost?
Here is a step-by-step guide to fix YouTube’s black screen video with Repairit:
1Add the video
Download Wondershare Repairit application (if you haven’t yet) and add the YouTube video displaying a black screen. You can add it in two simple ways:
- Drag and drop the YouTube video to the interface.
- Click on the ‘Add’ button to open the browser. (Note: this feature allows adding multiple videos).
2Repair the video
After the video gets uploaded, click the ‘Repair’ button. Wait for some time and do not try to stop the process. Allow the Repairit to fix your YouTube video’s black screen.
3Save the video
Once the video gets repaired, you will receive a notification to ‘Save’ it. Please choose a suitable location to save it.
4Advanced Repair
In case, the repair results do not meet your desired expectations, run the video for deeper repair. Try ‘Advanced repair’. Allow the process to continue for a few minutes. You will get a notification just like in the step above. Save it. And voila, your YouTube video is fixed.
Note: You must have a downloaded YouTube video to use this tool.
Fix YouTube Black Screen Video Via Checking Ad-block.
Interestingly, browser plugins such as Ad-blockers can also stop certain web page elements from showing up. These plugins are known for blocking stand-alone ads seen on YouTube or a web page. When these plugins work at their optimum, they do not allow advertisements from playing while the rest of the page loads normally.
However, when the ad blockers do not work correctly, they allow ads to play and blocks some page elements such as a video or a text. And hence you witness a black screen.
Here’s how to know if Ad blockers are the reason behind the black screen and how to fix it.
- Go to YouTube, open your video.
- Disable Ad blocker temporarily. (The process may vary slightly for each browser.).
- Refresh the YouTube page. Now play the video.
- If the video starts playing, check the documentation to look for an alternative that prevents it from blocking and blackening YouTube videos.
Note: YouTube earns money from ad blockers. If you use ad-blockers, you can get blocked. Also, YouTube blacklists a few JavaScript queries, thus stopping their display on a web page. When you use an ad blocker, if a valid JavaScript gets blocked, you may unintentionally stop the video from loading. In such a case, updating or changing add-in or ad blocking extensions is useful.
Check the Network Connections
Sometimes when the network connection is bad, a video cannot get video content from the respective server preventing it from playing, leading to the black screen. Here are a few things you can try:
- Use a VPN.
Trying this option can help you fix the issue you may be facing with the local internet connection. For people who have their VPN server and know how to set it up, fixing the problem is easy.
- Check your usage
Often, when you have exceeded your internet usage limit, the video may not play. If the same connection runs all your devices, try disabling them on the ones not in use. Even some applications can be the root cause of the black screen. Stop them and check if your video starts playing.
- Check your internet connection
Still another way is ensuring that your internet connection is running smoothly. Troubleshoot for internet issues and refresh the page to see if this strategy works.
Refresh the Page or Relaunch the Browser.
Memory issues with your device can lead to problems such as YouTube videos ceasing to play. Issues such as cookies and cache data can play foul with videos loading up. You may not have noticed, but these were piling up for some time, interfering with your browser’s smooth functioning. These may even alter your browser settings and prevent them from loading.
Clear the browsing data, clear cache, or switch to another browser to get over this problem. Then restart the device. Sometimes when nothing works, this trick does the unexpected.
To help you fix the browser issues, here are the mandatory steps:
- Refresh the YouTube video showing the black screen
- Log out of your account (YouTube)
- Close the browser in use. Restart it after some time.
- See if there are any latest browser updates. Download (if any) and install it.
- Clear all browser cache
- Delete YouTube cookies
- On the web browser, disable hardware acceleration
- Think of using another web browser
- Restart your computer.
Sometimes, switching to another browser is a good idea as your current browser may be incompatible with the YouTube video. Or, if that also doesn’t work, consult your browser provider and ask for help.
Turn Off Hardware Acceleration
Hardware acceleration is a term that defines using computer hardware created to execute a few functions better on a GPU than on the CPU. It is useful in enhancing software performance.
However, even hardware acceleration can develop some unanticipated issues. So if you have hardware acceleration on your computer, the YouTube videos may not play as normal. Try disabling hardware acceleration and check the video.
Below are a few simple steps to disable Hardware acceleration in Chrome.
- Open Chrome
- Go to chrome://flags/
- Search hardware acceleration
- If it is enabled, turn it into disabled
Doing this may mitigate the chances of the error— the black screen.
Conclusion
We have provided you with sufficient information to get rid of the black screen issue. Start with checking the network and network setting and move to your browser and hardware acceleration. If nothing works, there is a savior in Wondersahre Repairit video repair software. Anyone can use this free web application which is easy to use and resolves the problem effectively. Ask your friends also to try it if they get stuck with a similar issue.
