How to Fix YouTube Fullscreen Lag on Chrome?

Clicking the full-screen button is a usual practice before watching a YouTube video as you want to see it nice and big. But, uh oh – the video stays small. Or part of the edges get chopped off. You can’t see the whole thing. How annoying is that? I can understand how frustrated you must feel. You want to watch the whole video enlarged on your screen. But some glitch with YouTube and Chrome gets in the way. Don’t get annoyed! This blog will provide easy, step-by-step instructions on “How to fix YouTube fullscreen lagging on Chrome.”

You can finally watch videos using the full screen without any issues getting in the way. No more tiny videos or missing edges.

Key Takeaways

• Clashes between Chrome and Adobe Flash may cause full-screen issues with YouTube videos on Chrome.
• It’s essential to fix these issues to watch enlarged videos without distractions.
• Update Chrome and Flash, and turn off hardware acceleration in settings to optimize performance.
• Modify YouTube player configurations, like enabling HD and turning off annotations.
• Disable browser extensions, try keyboard shortcuts, adjust zoom, or use alternative browsers/modes to isolate and fix the problem.

What Causes YouTube Fullscreen Issues on Chrome?

Let’s first talk about why the full-screen problem happens before we fix it. The issue is that Chrome and Adobe Flash don’t work well together. Many YouTube videos use Flash. 

As Chrome is updated, sometimes the changes result in shockwaves flash, causing videos to not display correctly in full screen. The good news is there are settings in both Chrome and Flash that can efficiently resolve this.

Why Fixing Full-Screen Issues is Important

Watching YouTube videos confined to a small window or with the edges of the video cut off can ruin the viewing experience.

When trying to see all the details on that tiny screen, you might squint or struggle to make everything out. Or you may get distracted by the video borders and be unable to immerse yourself in the content thoroughly.

Low resolution in a small window also prevents the video playback from being crisp and smooth. Even worse, critical text, gameplay, or action can get cropped out from the missing edges.

Following the steps in this guide on “How to fix YouTube fullscreen on Chrome,” you can finally watch videos maximized properly across your entire display.

Prerequisites Before Getting Started

Before you try any solutions to fix YouTube’s full-screen issues, it’s essential to complete these preparatory steps first. Update your Chrome browser to the latest available version since using outdated Chrome can often worsen full-screen problems. Also, check if you have Adobe Flash installed and update it to the newest version.

Lastly, temporarily turn off any Chrome extensions you have added. Sometimes extensions end up interfering with videos going properly full screen. Temporarily turning off extensions can assist in pinpointing if they are the source of the full-screen malfunction.

Step 1 – Adjust Chrome Settings

The first place to look is Chrome’s settings, which control how videos display:

• Open Chrome settings and uncheck the “Use hardware acceleration when available” box. Hardware acceleration can sometimes cause performance issues with YouTube.
• Reduce animation speeds for scrolling, panning, and zooming to “No animations” or “Instantly” for a performance boost.
• Restart Chrome after making the above changes for them to take effect fully.

Step 2 – Configure Adobe Flash Settings

Adobe Flash has various options you can tweak. 

• To access them, right-click a YouTube clip. From the menu, choose “Settings.” That will open the Flash configuration panel. Update those settings for smoother full-screen videos.
• Just like with Chrome, uncheck hardware acceleration in the Flash settings to prevent full-screen bugs.
• In the Camera and Mic tab, make sure Flash is allowed access to those devices if needed.
• Select “Always allow” on the General tab to let Flash run on YouTube without restrictions.

Step 3 – Adjust YouTube Player Settings

YouTube also provides its player configurations:

• While signed into your YouTube account, access the video playback settings.
• Uncheck options like annotations, cards, and end screens, which can sometimes interfere with the full screen.
• If you have a fast computer, enable accelerated playback for smoother, high-quality video.
• Check for any HD, 4K, or VP9 encoding options and enable them if available.

Step 4 – Disable Browser Extensions

Chrome extensions like ad blockers can sometimes impair full-screen functionality:

• Disable all extensions and then test if the full screen works properly without them.
• If the full-screen works, re-enable extensions one by one until you encounter the problematic one.
• For essential extensions, check their settings to see if related options can be toggled off.

Step 5 – Try Alternative Solutions

If you still can’t get videos to full screen properly, there are a few other things to try:

• Use keyboard shortcuts like F for the full screen instead of clicking the mouse icon.
• Adjust the default zoom level in Chrome settings to lower or higher.
• Test full screen on a different browser like Firefox to pinpoint an isolated Chrome issue.
• Use YouTube’s Cinema Mode, which makes videos nearly full-screen with minimal borders.

Crazy Facts

• The world record for most YouTube videos watched in 24 hours is 2,160 videos – that’s 90 videos per hour or 1.5 videos per minute!
• Over 5 billion YouTube videos are watched every single day globally.
• The first video uploaded to YouTube in 2005 was 18 seconds long and titled “Me at the Zoo.” It showed co-founder Jawed Karim at the San Diego Zoo.
• YouTube ranks as the second most visited website globally, attracting over 2 billion monthly visitors.

The Bottom Line

Following the step-by-step instructions in this guide, you can fix the YouTube fullscreen slow-loading issues on Chrome. The key solutions are updating Chrome and Flash, modifying their settings, disabling extensions, and adjusting YouTube player configurations.

The effort is well worth it – you’ll now be able to enjoy watching YouTube videos free of distractions and technical problems. No more squinting at small windows or missing out on edges cut off from videos.

FAQs about How to Fix YouTube Fullscreen on Chrome

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