With increased server usage thanks to so many people staying at home self-isolating high definition is quickly becoming a premium web service.

In the last week Netflix have announced various regions, including Europe and India, in which they will be lowering the quality of their video streams as usage rockets with so many at home due to Coronavirus lockdowns and quarantines.

YouTube have now announced that they will be changing the quality that videos play in when you first load them up. Normally YouTube videos will load in whatever definition they automatically consider the best based on your internet connection – usually opting for as high a definition as possible

All YouTube videos will now automatically load in standard definition, though the option to increase it to higher resolutions will still be available in the settings of a video. It’s part of a measure being adopted by many high traffic sites, particularly in Europe, to lower bandwidth usage.

With so many more people at home and using internet services thanks to the Coronavirus measures, EU regulators have asked companies like YouTube to help ease internet congestion for the time being.

YouTube’s parent company Google told Bloomberg: “We continue to work closely with governments and network operators around the globe to do our part to minimise stress on the system during this unprecedented situation.”