How to Use Statistics for Nerds on YouTube

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Despite its name, YouTube’s Stats for Nerds feature isn’t just for nerds. This option is disabled by default on all YouTube videos, but when enabled, a small window appears on top of your video with information such as the current video quality, buffering information, not to mention a bunch of technical crap. However, this nonsense can be very useful.

What each stat actually means to nerds

If you’re having trouble playing on YouTube or are just curious about your video’s stats, these details can be quite informative. Here’s what each one means:

  • Video ID/sCPN: The video ID in the YouTube database and the code for your specific playback instance.

  • Viewport/Frames: Video player resolution (not video resolution) and the current frame you’re in.

  • Current/Optimal Resolution: The video’s current resolution compared to its original resolution.

  • Volume/Normalized: The current volume of the video you’re watching and how much the audio is “normalized.” Normalization more accurately matches the louder and quieter parts of the sound to protect the listener’s ears and speakers. The brackets show how loud the video is compared to YouTube’s baseline.

  • Codecs: video and audio multimedia compression codecs.

  • Color : Shows the current color range of the content you are viewing.

  • Connection Speed: Your device’s network connection.

  • Network activity: transferring data from YouTube servers to your device. The higher the video resolution, the higher the network activity will be.

  • Buffer Status: How much YouTube can buffer videos to avoid glitches and interruptions in playback due to poor connection speeds.

  • Cryptic text: A long line of text whose meaning is unclear at first. More on this below.

  • Date : The current date and time for the viewer.

YouTube doesn’t reveal what exactly Mystery Text is, and many have guessed its meaning. But the top comment on a previous version of this article, posted by Raphael Chalk, broke down each section of the example Secret Text s:4 t:1759.84 b:1459.421-1884.549 P pbs:3354:

  • s:4: stream number or segment number.

  • t:1759.84: Current video timestamp in seconds.

  • b:1459.421-1884.549: Indicates the video buffer range in seconds. 1459.421 is the beginning of the buffer, and 1884.549 is the end. It shows how much of the video is actually buffered.

  • P: This appears every time the video is paused.

  • pbs:3354: pbs stands for “playback session” and identifies the current video playback session.

Some of this information is neat, but much of it will look like technobabble to casual users. However, this does not mean that it is useless. Network information is useful if you are having playback problems and cannot determine the cause.

However, the main purpose of Stats for Nerds is to help YouTube engineers fix bugs. If you ever encounter YouTube issues such as sudden app crashes, slow video buffering, or other issues, take a screenshot of the Stats for Nerds window and submit it to YouTube support with a bug report .

How to Enable YouTube Statistics for Nerds

Statistics for Nerds are useful, but finding and turning them on will be slightly different depending on the device you’re using.

Desktop (Windows, Linux, Mac)

  1. Open YouTube.com in any browser.

  2. Start watching the video.

  3. Right-click the video once to open the video menu.

  4. Select Stats for Nerds to toggle the overlay.

Android

  1. In the YouTube app, go to Settings > General > Enable Nerd Statistics .

  2. Next, play the video.

  3. Click the three-dot More button in the video player.

  4. Click the Statistics button.

iOS and iPadOS

  1. Open the YouTube app

  2. Go to Settings > General .

  3. Turn on stats for the nerds .

  4. Play the video.

  5. Tap a video, then tap the settings cog, then tap More Settings .

  6. Click Statistics for Nerds .

SmartTVs, game consoles and streaming devices

Overall, switching stats for Nerds should work the same on these devices.

  1. Open the app on your device.

  2. Start the video.

  3. Bring up the video playback controls (usually by pressing the Select button on the default remote/controller).

  4. Go to the tab and select Settings.

  5. Scroll down and select Stats for Nerds .

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