Fix: YouTube Processing Will Begin Shortly

Emilija Anchevska

Written by Emilija Anchevska Streaming / YouTube

Twitter Published 2 years ago / updated 1 year ago - 3 min read

Despite being one of the largest video-sharing platforms, YouTube has its share of errors that cause many users headaches.

One of the most recently reported ones is the processing error preventing users from mainly uploading long-form and high-definition videos.

Users are desperately seeking a solution; however, there is no official fix for this problem, only workarounds that might speed up the video processing.

In this guide, we will explain why users see the “YouTube processing will begin shortly” message and the steps that might help you speed up this process.

Why is a YouTube video stuck on "Processing will begin shortly"?

There is no official statement clarifying why this message occurs. Still, according to several online sources, for YouTube to distribute videos, it must convert them into different resolutions.

This means that for users to be provided with the best video quality version, YouTube makes multiple copies of the videos in different resolutions and stores them on its servers. Later, when users click to watch a video, they watch the optimal version YouTube has chosen for them.

The message “processing will begin shortly” also indicates that the higher resolution versions of the video have not been completed yet, but it has been completed for the lower resolution versions, which are available for watching.

YouTube will produce several versions of your video, starting with a low-quality, low-resolution copy and moving up to the highest-quality copy. So, if you want your viewers to see the best quality of your video, you will need to wait.

There is not much one can do about the processing part except wait since this "issue" is YouTube's.

Read also: How to Lock YouTube Screen

How to fix YouTube video not processing

Most of the time users who upload high-resolution videos encounter the “processing will begin shortly” message.

Many users have reported that the video processing has been stuck at 95% after several hours of waiting.

Besides the video quality, the size and the format of the video also play a big part in the processing speed. Another factor is the upload traffic at the time.

That being said, here are some possible solutions for this problem:

• Refresh the page, and then you may find out that the video has already been uploaded.
• Ensure that the name of the file doesn’t have any special characters, symbols, spaces, or underscores.
• The preferred video format for YouTube is .MP4 codec H.264.
• Reduce the size of the file.
• Reduce the resolution of the file.
• If your video has not finished processing after eight hours, Google recommends deleting the video and starting the upload over.

🤔 Check out what to do if your YouTube video glitches.

How long does YouTube processing take

Youtube processing can take anywhere from a few minutes to several hours.

The processing speed greatly depends on the video format, video, file size, and upload traffic.

As we explained before, higher resolution formats will convert more slowly, for example, 1080p will take a longer time to appear as opposed to 480p.

Wrapping Up

Uploading videos to YouTube in most cases is a seamless process. However, sometimes errors can occur.

The best thing to do when seeing the “processing will begin shortly” message is to wait, as the action itself it’s a bit complex.

If the video is not uploading after 8 hours, try using some of the fixes we mentioned above.

FAQ