One of my favorite browser extensions is Improve YouTube (also known as ImprovedTube), which I've found to be the best in optimizing YouTube to my liking.
Download Improve YouTube for Chrome
Download Improve Youtube for Firefox
This extension has many functions, my favorite ones are Playback Quality, Player Size, Volume and Shortcut keys.
- Playback Quality: Set it your preferred quality and it will play the selected resolution automatically when available.
- Volume: Set the video to always play at the same volume
- Player Size: By matching the player size to the video quality/resolution, it helps maintain clarity and prevents the video from being stretched to fit the default player size (if the video resolution is smaller than the video player), which can make it look blurry.
- Shortcut keys: I use this to map some keys to quickly change video quality, for example alt+1 for 1080p, alt+2 for 720p, etc
How To Always Play Preferred Quality On Youtube And Stop Auto-quality
To set preferred resolution, open Improved Youtube! by clicking the Extension icon at the top right of your browser as shown in the picture below.
After opening Improved Youtube!, click on 'Player' and then in the next page, scroll down to find 'Quality' setting.
Choose your favorite resolution and this will stop Youtube from defaulting to Auto Quality every time you click on a new video. Don't forget to pin Improve Youtube! for quick access!
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