Apple TV+ Streaming Quality Lowered in Europe to Reduce Network Strain

The European Union has asked streaming services to temporarily reduce streaming quality to ease the strain on broadband networks caused by people working from home, a request that Netflix, YouTube, and now Apple TV+ have complied with.

appletvplus
Netflix cut streaming data bitrates yesterday, while YouTube reduced streaming quality this morning. According to 9to5Mac, ‌Apple TV+‌ streaming quality was recently lowered as well, resulting in lower resolution streams and heavily compressed content with visibly blocky artifacts.

9to5Mac says that the lowered quality is "very noticeable," especially on larger-sized television sets, and quite a departure from the 4K HDR content that Apple normally offers. Resolutions are said to be as low as 670 pixels tall.

Compared to other services like Netflix that have also lowered quality to save data, Apple's streaming quality is described as "particularly aggressive" and akin to the kind of quality one might expect from "streaming on a phone over a 3G network."

At the current time, streaming content providers have only been asked to lower streaming quality in Europe, so the lower streaming rates do not affect the United States and other countries. The United States has not called on streaming content providers to implement data reduction measures.

It's not clear how long Apple plans to stream with reduced quality and whether tweaks will be made for a better compromise between quality and data usage. Netflix has said that it will continue using the lower quality stream for the next 30 days.

Top Rated Comments

Akiainavas Avatar
53 months ago
“Complete idiotic that politicians meddle in this. Let the ISPs do the asking, let them deal with the legitimate streaming providers and get a proxy/caching server on their networks if they still don't have that.
Moreover it's utterly pointless.Legitimate streaming is much, much more friendly on the ISPs than torrent downloads are that easily peak traffic many times higher than streaming. [peaks hurt, and a 2160o blu-ray copy over a torrent download easily saturates the highest consumer bandwidths]

Politicians should stay out of technology they have no grasp of whatsoever.”



Politicians rarely have grasp, perhaps. But neither do you mate. On both technology and politics.

Nobody is meddling. The commission ( by the way, not politicians, educate yourself, most commissioners are actually technical experts in their respective fields. That’s why commission is appointed and not elected anf that’s why they can only make recommendations, not laws ) made a recommendation. Netflix, YouTube and Apple followed it.

Nobody forced anyone to do anything.

People like you are the problem. They preempt the issue - you criticize. They don’t preempt and let the network collapse - you criticize.

It’s a shame the only thing you never do is offer actual, workable solutions - or have any perspective - we are in the middle of a global pandemic, hundreds of thousands of people may die, even more may lose jobs and you’re b...ng about slightly lower quality of a streaming service ?

We need the bandwidth for medicine, for people to work and be productive - nobody cares about your binging.

Get some perspective mate.
Score: 51 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Domen151 Avatar
53 months ago
I honestly doubt that Apple TV+ put that much strain on EU networks with its few shows they have available right now ?‍♂️

But its good that they did it.
Score: 36 Votes (Like | Disagree)
cycomiko Avatar
53 months ago

Complete idiotic that politicians meddle in this. Let the ISPs do the asking, let them deal with the legitimate streaming providers and get a proxy/caching server on their networks if they still don't have that.
Moreover it's utterly pointless.Legitimate streaming is much, much more friendly on the ISPs than torrent downloads are that easily peak traffic many times higher than streaming. [peaks hurt, and a 2160o blu-ray copy over a torrent download easily saturates the highest consumer bandwidths]

Politicians should stay out of technology they have no grasp of whatsoever.
Wrong. Politicians will ask when its for the betterment of their communities. Thats why they are voted for and elected. You are an example of what is wrong with the world.

They are also asking ISPs to restrict non-essential bandwidth, so good luck with the torrents.
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JVNPhoto Avatar
53 months ago
It’s kind of funny that people just accept this. Was there really that big of a problem to warrant Apple and other streaming services to throttle bit rate even though people pay extra for it (eg. Netflix)? Shouldn’t it be up to the ISP’s to figure this out? Is there really nothing more important for the EU commission to handle in this crisis?
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Nozuka Avatar
53 months ago

It’s kind of funny that people just accept this. Was there really that big of a problem to warrant Apple and other streaming services to throttle bit rate even though people pay extra for it (eg. Netflix)? Shouldn’t it be up to the ISP’s to figure this out? Is there really nothing more important for commission to handle in this crisis?
People have more to worry about, than getting a lower bit stream in this crisis.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
GeoStructural Avatar
53 months ago
It is nice, but the impact would be negligible anyway. ?
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

reset password request iphone

Warning: Apple Users Targeted in Phishing Attack Involving Rapid Password Reset Requests

Tuesday March 26, 2024 4:34 pm PDT by
Phishing attacks taking advantage of Apple's password reset feature have become increasingly common, according to a report from KrebsOnSecurity. Multiple Apple users have been targeted in an attack that bombards them with an endless stream of notifications or multi-factor authentication (MFA) messages in an attempt to cause panic so they'll respond favorably to social engineering. An...
Generic iOS 18 Feature Purple

iOS 18: What to Expect From 'Biggest' Update in iPhone's History

Wednesday March 27, 2024 11:10 am PDT by
At least some Apple software engineers continue to believe that iOS 18 will be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Below, we recap rumored features and changes for the iPhone. "The iOS 18 update is expected to be the most ambitious overhaul of the iPhone's software in its history, according to people working on the upgrade," wrote Gurman, in a r...
maxresdefault

Apple to Launch New iPad Pro and iPad Air Models in May

Thursday March 28, 2024 11:07 am PDT by
Apple will introduce new iPad Pro and iPad Air models in early May, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman previously suggested the new iPads would come out in March, and then April, but the timeline has been pushed back once again. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Apple is working on updates to both the iPad Pro and iPad Air models. The iPad Pro models will...
maxresdefault

Apple Announces WWDC 2024 Event for June 10 to 14

Tuesday March 26, 2024 10:02 am PDT by
Apple today announced that its 35th annual Worldwide Developers Conference is set to take place from Monday, June 10 to Friday, June 14. As with WWDC events since 2020, WWDC 2024 will be an online event that is open to all developers at no cost. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. WWDC 2024 will include online sessions and labs so that developers can learn about new...
apple maps 3d feature

Apple Maps May Gain Custom Routes With iOS 18

Tuesday March 26, 2024 3:10 pm PDT by
Apple may be planning to add support for "custom routes" in Apple Maps in iOS 18, according to code reviewed by MacRumors. Apple Maps does not currently offer a way to input self-selected routes, with Maps users limited to Apple's pre-selected options, but that may change in iOS 18. Apple has pushed an iOS 18 file to its maps backend labeled "CustomRouteCreation." While not much is revealed...
General iOS 17 Feature Orange Purple

Apple Releases Revised Versions of iOS 17.4.1 and iPadOS 17.4.1 With Updated Build Number

Wednesday March 27, 2024 5:59 am PDT by
Apple on late Tuesday released revised versions of iOS 17.4.1 and iPadOS 17.4.1 with an updated build number of 21E237, according to MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris. The updates previously had a build number of 21E236. The revised updates are available for all iPhone and iPad models that are compatible with iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, but they can only be installed via the Finder app on macOS...
applephilschiller

Apple's Phil Schiller Works 80 Hours a Week Overseeing App Store

Wednesday March 27, 2024 2:03 pm PDT by
With the App Store and app ecosystem undergoing major changes in the European Union, The Wall Street Journal today shared a profile on App Store chief Phil Schiller, who is responsible for the App Store. Though Schiller transitioned from marketing chief to "Apple Fellow" in 2020 to take a step back from Apple and spend more time on personal projects and friends, he is reportedly working...