Laggy video playback (NewPipe, PipePipe) since A16 QPR2

DeletedUser609

DeletedUser591 Factory reset is almost never the answer.

Yea.. But it will make me feel better lol

DeletedUser591 if it costs you a lot of time to get everything running again.

My phone and tablet are kept very simple, only have around 15 apps and store all my info/files etc on encrypted external HDD so a factory reset takes around a hour.

LacuraProtect

It sounds like I'm having a similar issue to you. I've outlined some notes below, with the hope this raises potential solutions. I do not think it is an issue with an update to NewPipe because I've been using version 0.28.0 for months without issue. However, I cannot say whether it is an issue with the latest GOS update itself, if the GOS update exposed a weakness in NewPipe that was being masked prior, if YouTube is detecting videos playing back in NewPipe and throttling them, or another issue. I suspect it isn't YouTube throttling the video though because I haven't seen any relevant reports on the GitHub for NewPipe.

Symptoms:
First started less than 1 week ago.
Videos in NewPipe stutter during playback. Will stutter periodically for ₁₀ s, go back to normal, then repeat. It is similar to when you hit a CPU or GPU heavy area in a game.
The audio is not affected.
Happens on both WiFi and mobile data.
Videos play back fine on YouTube in Vanadium.

Devices affected:
Pixel 8A, GOS build 2025121701, NewPipe vr 0.28.0
Pixel Tablet, GOS build 2025121701, NewPipe vr 0.28.0

What I've tried (no improvement):
Reducing resolution and framerate.
Clearing storage and cache for NewPipe.
Deleting and re-installing NewPipe.
Changing exploit protection settings for NewPipe.
Turning off and on battery saver.
Ensuring devices are fully charged and trying with the devices plugged in.
Wiping and restoring the device to factory setting (Pixel Tablet only).

Happy to do some testing and playing around with settings.

CaptainPlanet

I am having the same issues within the same time frame. Doesn't happen on every video. Pixel 6a.

rclemmer

Probably Youtube. I have had issues as well. Seems like they changed something.

DeletedUser591

rclemmer Probably Youtube. I have had issues as well. Seems like they changed something.

Fortunately, I haven't been able to reproduce the issue on PipePipe or LibreTube watching a 2h+ video, which I used numerous times before as a benchmark. Unfortunately, for those facing the same issue, the problem went away on its own.

I believe that the issue is not fixed but rather shows up intermittently depending on some constant I do not know of (device uptime, video type, video length, battery percentage, cpu usage, etc.).

While it might be seem unrelated to the internal workings of NewPipe/PipePipe or LibreTube at this time (no new updates since the post was made), I cannot rule this out because of the aforementioned constants.

The issue was quite prominent the last few day – the lag oftentimes lasting 5-10sec. But for now, the issue seems to be resolved.

If I notice it again, I will comment here.

Murcielago

DeletedUser591

do you have all exploit protection settings enabled?

DeletedUser591

I am talking about the options below it, in particular dynamic code loading via memory and via storage, which the default is not restricted, I believe.

PipePipe (4.7.6) works fine for me with DCL via memory and storage restricted.

If these settings causes problems you should get a push up notification on starting the app (maybe check if App info> Dynamic code loading via memory/storage> show notifications about blocked DCL attempts is enabled).

DeletedUser591

Murcielago What is your software version, device?

Also, DCL memory/storage are not the only exploit protection I mentioned.

Exploit protections I have:

Hardened memory allocator - enabled
Native code debugging - default blocked
Webview jit - default disabled
Dynamic code loading via memory - default restricted
Dynamic code loading via storage - default restricted

DeletedUser591

DeletedUser609 I'll try a factory reset

@DeletedUser609 did you try perhaps?

Or maybe anyone else try factory resetting their phone to try if the issue goes away?

Murcielago

DeletedUser591

As you wrote

DeletedUser591

I think you are talking about exploit protection compatibility mode, which is off by default.

I am talking about the options below it, in particular dynamic code loading via memory and via storage, which the default is not restricted, I believe. But I am not sure.

I was just referring to those. But anyways, my PipePipe settings are:

Hardened memory allocator - enabled
Memory tagging - enabled
Native code debugging - blocked
Webview jit - disabled
Dynamic code loading via memory - restricted
Dynamic code loading via storage - restricted

Pixel 10Pro | build 2025121701
PipePipe 4.7.7 (there was an update after my last post)

DeletedUser591

The lag/stutter happens more often on longer videos in my experience.

GrouchyGrape

DeletedUser591 FWIW, I'd been having this issue as well, but has since resolved itself.

I had been using Tubular until the intermittent low FPS started happening (without any app update, don't remember if it started after an OS update). In pursuit of a fix, I moved to PipePipe instead. The issue still persisted.

Recently (a week ago?), videos started playing normally again. Don't think there was an app update that coincided with it, but it's working normally now.

DeletedUser591

GrouchyGrape We wrote the same comment, with the same finding simultaneously. Yours popped up after I wrote mine.

Seems we came to similar conclusions.

DeletedUser591

UPDATE: happened again.

Long lag/stutter spike in PipePipe could not pin-point the cause.

Could not reproduce. PipePipe app logs seem indecipherable to me. Would need to compare general logs with stutter/lag logs to maybe extract something out of them.

UserBlahBlah

Also experiencing stuttering video playback with no audio issues on NewPipe v0.28.0 on Pixel 8 pro Android 16 build 2025121701. Compatibility mode doesn't help.

blissartt

I think we could be better off opening an issue at the apps repo and asking there.

FAFAU

I've had same issue with newpipe - lagging video playback. I tried everything from reinstalling app, changing exploit protection settings to resseting my device (even reinstalling system). The only thing that helped me was turning on "disable media tunneling" in settings > video and audio > exoplayer settings and changing video format from mpeg4 to webm. Now videos play flawlessly. I hope that will help you all. (Two Pixel 8's and pixel 7 pro)
P. S. It also happend after newest update 2025121701 but I cant determine if it's the update fault or problem coincidentally appeared in the same time as the update aired.

oci3o

FAFAU seems to be the video format, I set the settings you suggested one by one, the disable media tunnel didn't fix it for me, but selecting WebM did.
(I'm using the fork Tubular over Newpipe directly)

Thanks for finding it, been winding me up for a few days now 👍

LacuraProtect

FAFAU as @oci3o said, WebM also solves the issue for me. Thanks! Now it'd be interesting as to why this happened seemingly since the last update (or it could be something on YouTube's end). I don't have the apps others have mentioned, but MPEG4 vs WebM on those could show similar results.

Johnnyloans

FAFAU changing video format from mpeg4 to webm

Thanks! This fixed it for me on newpipe.

Novalissoide

oci3o disable media tunnel didn't fix it for me, but selecting WebM did

If change to WebM did fix it , make sure undo the tunneling disable test. (For the good of your battery)

DeletedUser591

Thank you guys for the input.

WebM might fix it for some (e.g. only in NewPipe, not in PipePipe), this is a workaround rather than a solution.

I ruled out an app update being the cause, since I tried multiple versions and NewPipe has not published an update since Aug 1st.

Thus, this issue seems to be either:

an upstream problem caused by changes to AOSP.
a problem specific to GrapheneOS.

Scenario 1 seems slightly unlikely to me, since there have not been any reports on the NewPipe/PipePipe GitHub regarding this issue.

GrapheneOS might be one of the few OS (excl. Stock Pixel OS) that already shipped Android 16 QPR2 and the only ones that shipped the latest/future security updates – the issue possibly stemming from either of those aspects.

But until someone directly compares NewPipe/PipePipe on GrapheneOS to Pixel OS, we will not know if it is an upstream issue or an issue downstream on GrapheneOS.

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