Netflix has confirmed to MyBroadband it will reduce its streaming bitrate for South African subscribers to reduce congestion on networks.<\/p>\n
This change has been implemented to reduce congestion on local networks as more people use Netflix due to the 21-day lockdown imposed by the government to combat the outbreak of the COVID-19 coronavirus.<\/p>\n
Netflix reduced\u00a0its streaming bitrate in Europe earlier this month<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0in an effort to reduce congestion as its traffic spiked considerably due to more people staying home.<\/p>\n The streaming service has announced it will reduce its bitrate across South Africa and Africa after 23:59 on 30 March 2020. This will last for 30 days.<\/p>\n Bitrate refers to the number of bits per second transmitted through a network. In the context of streaming, a higher bitrate accommodates better video quality due to more data being streamed per second.<\/p>\n Maintaining quality<\/strong><\/p>\n While a lower bitrate usually means lower-quality videos for streaming services, Netflix said it has found a way to maintain the quality of its video streams while reducing traffic load by 25%.<\/p>\n \u201cGiven the crisis, we\u2019ve developed a way to reduce Netflix\u2019s traffic on telecommunications networks by 25% while also maintaining the quality of our service,\u201d Netflix said.<\/p>\n \u201cSo consumers should continue to get the quality that comes with their plan \u2013 whether it\u2019s Ultra-High, High, or Standard Definition.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe believe this will provide significant relief to congested networks and we will be deploying it in South Africa and the rest of the continent for the next 30 days.\u201d<\/p>\n Netflix offers a number of bitrate options for each video quality option, and by removing the highest-bitrate steam, it can still offer video streams at the same resolution which use less bandwidth.<\/p>\n Massive boost in Netflix traffic<\/strong><\/p>\n South African Netflix traffic has increased substantially due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.<\/p>\n Local ISP Cool Ideas\u00a0previously stated<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0it has seen a major increase in traffic on its network as a side-effect of the outbreak.<\/p>\n Netflix usage, in particular, has seen a major increase over the past few weeks and general daytime Internet traffic on Cool Ideas\u2019 network has more than doubled.<\/p>\n Cool Ideas co-owner Paul Butschi said the ISP saw a big spike in Netflix usage following the\u00a0initial announcement<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0of a state of national disaster due to the COVID-19 outbreak.<\/p>\n \u201cAll other daytime traffic use (6:00 to 17:00) is up around 100%, which is an indication of the number of people now working from home,\u201d Butschi added.<\/p>\n This article originally appeared on MyBroadband<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n
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