Facebook has so many settings it can be hard to keep track of them all. One that may come in handy is the ability to restrict or set the video quality Facebook videos play at. There are two settings – HD and SD. High and Standard Definition. The former is higher quality, while the latter uses far less data to load and play.
So, for users with metred connections or limited mobile data, it may well be worth making sure that any Facebook videos they play run on the lower quality setting.
To accomplish this, log into your Facebook account and go to your settings via the arrow in the top right corner.
SettingsTip: This option is only available on computers, not in the mobile version.
Within your settings, you’ll find an option for Video on the left-hand side, towards the bottom. Click on it and you’ll see several options regarding videos on Facebook.
Among them is also the ability to turn auto-play on or off – if you want to turn that off too so that videos don’t start playing until you manually start them, this is the perfect opportunity! Otherwise, use the dropdown option Video Default Quality and set it to your preferred option.
You have three choices – Default, SD only and HD whenever available. Pick the option you would like. Facebook saves your setting automatically, so that’s all you have to do!
Tip: You can’t force non-HD videos to be HD. It depends entirely on how high-quality the original file was. In other words, if your videos still aren’t higher quality after you set this to HD it’s probably that the uploaded videos aren’t high enough quality!
Martin Ng says
Does not work for some HD videos. I uploaded all my videos in HD. In my settings, I have selected the HD if Available option for all the videos. During playback, some videos do not have the HD option no matter when I play them and so they do have the HD option. So, it does not seem to be affected by your internet band-width or my video settings. There is no logic to it and there is no way to change the setting once the video is uploaded. I have videos that were upl0aded with HD and was able to play in HD in the past, but now they are SD only.
Bill Black says
Just checked my HD videos. They have all been changed to very low quality SD. And there is no option in the gear thing to select SD. The vids look terrible. :/
andrew says
i’ve just now looked my own videos i’ve made over the years and everyone was made in HD, yet now when i want to download my own videos some will only show SD…..when clearly they where all made in HD. i believe they must lower these for space reasons but not sure? i’ve tried to email them about this issue.
they have no right to do this , they where all perfectly working in HD before……..they have no bloody right
JEAN says
My video was made in HD in iMovie. FB keeps changing quality to SD…I have to constantly be going in and making sure HD is on… FB you have to get this right….Very frustrating. PLEASE STOP CHANGING MY VIIDEO FROM HD TO SD…….
Misha Samson says
I have exact same issue.. I post videos (VLOGs) on my business page daily. They are downloaded in HD but autoplay in SD. I have to change each one individually each time to change to HD and each time you go to my business page you have to do it (it doesn’t save that auto setting), One thing thats weird is i also post (copy) the video to my personal page but on that page it autoplays in HD!! Wtf.
Bob says
Doesn’t work. Changed to SD because entire video screen cannot be seen in HD, but it still automatically plays everything in 1080 p so only a part of the video is displayed without going all the way to fullscreen.
Robert says
Nope, Doesn’t work.
Fr. Christopher Pietraszko says
This setting hasn’t changed anything. My videos are uploaded on Youtube just fine at 4K , but on Facebook its only at a maximum of 720p . Very frustrating.
bill frank says
Doesn’t work. I still have to go to the gear icon every single time I watch any video and change it from sd to hd, and then back up the video.