Google Drive taking longer to process videos due to increase in uploads

Processing only impacts watching the video in Drive -- you can still download them for local playback

It seems an increase in video upload traffic is testing Google Drive’s servers and — unfortunately — they’re losing.

Video uploads to the service have spiked, likely due to COVID-19 and the increase in people working and learning remotely. The result is overall slower processing times for videos, which means users can’t watch uploaded videos in Drive.

A Google employee confirmed the situation in a post to the Drive Help forum. However, the employee also noted that processing times only affect watching the video in Drive and users can still download the file to watch locally. Further, the employee encouraged users to continue reporting the issue. You can read the statement in full below:

“We are currently experiencing slower video processing times due to the increased usage of Google Drive. We understand that in these times many users are reliant on our products to teach, learn, work and communicate. Though the video may still be processing online, the video can be downloaded and viewed locally on your device.

If you are encountering this issue, please do not hesitate to submit your feedback. We appreciate your patience as we work to improve this experience.”

While some likely won’t feel the full effect of these delays, it will doubtless prove inconvenient for others. Those most impacted will probably be educators trying to upload teaching videos for students.

For now, there’s not much that can be done other than recommending users download videos for local playback instead of streaming them from Drive. Hopefully Google’s servers begin to catch up on the backlog soon.

Source: Google Drive Help Via: Android Police

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