One Drive app is so painfully slow at playing videos it's almost unusable.

Question

One Drive app is so painfully slow at playing videos it's almost unusable.

Calin Janick 20

No matter what Internet connection I am on, when using One Drive on my Pixel 10 Pro, it's so god awful at video playback. I have 2Gb Fiber internet in my house and consistently get 800-1000mbps + on speed test over WiFi and it STILL loads horrendously slow. Mobile network (Verizon) is no better. Different WiFi connections are no better.

I had this same problem on previous phones. The entire time I've had One Drive, video playback has been terrible. Years of inconsistentcy has me about to take my money elsewhere.

I shouldn't have to "adjust the quality" to make it play. Why would I want to watch a terrible quality video just to get it to load? What's the point of uploading it in high quality and having it stored for playback in the future, if I can't even view it properly??

I know I'm not the only one with this issue I see SO many complain about it. This seriously needs addressed. I am about to switch to something else.

Fred Neumann 10 Reputation points

2026-04-02T08:37:58.6+00:00

I am experiencing the exact same issue. As noted by many others, video buffering times often exceed the duration of the video itself. I have already opened a support request but received only generic troubleshooting steps regarding my connection. It is clear to me that this is not a connection or OS-specific problem, as I am experiencing it across Windows, Android, and iOS while having a very good internet connection. It is disappointing that a widespread, cross-platform issue like this does not seem to be a priority for Microsoft.
Arman Schwarz 0 Reputation points

2026-04-26T09:54:43.65+00:00

Interestingly it doesn't even seem to be a server load issue since the problem persists regardless of the time of day or even if you use a vpn to log in from a different region.

They seem to be setting the network speed allocated to clients too low. This is classic enshittification.

1 answer

Your answer

Fred Neumann 10 Reputation points

2026-04-02T08:37:58.6+00:00

I am experiencing the exact same issue. As noted by many others, video buffering times often exceed the duration of the video itself. I have already opened a support request but received only generic troubleshooting steps regarding my connection. It is clear to me that this is not a connection or OS-specific problem, as I am experiencing it across Windows, Android, and iOS while having a very good internet connection. It is disappointing that a widespread, cross-platform issue like this does not seem to be a priority for Microsoft.
Arman Schwarz 0 Reputation points

2026-04-26T09:54:43.65+00:00

Interestingly it doesn't even seem to be a server load issue since the problem persists regardless of the time of day or even if you use a vpn to log in from a different region.

They seem to be setting the network speed allocated to clients too low. This is classic enshittification.

Answer 1

OneDrive mobile video playback performance depends on both network conditions and how the service streams content, and there is no setting in the provided documentation that changes that behavior on Android.

From the available information, the only officially documented mitigations for slow or unreliable video playback in the OneDrive mobile apps are:

Use a stable, high‑bandwidth connection
- Ensure the device has a reliable internet connection. Some OneDrive mobile features only work well over Wi‑Fi, depending on device settings or mobile data plan.
- If the connection is slow or has high latency (for example, certain mobile or satellite networks), streaming large files like videos will be affected.
Download the video instead of streaming
- In the OneDrive app, select the video and choose the option to download it to the device.
- Once downloaded, play it locally using the device’s video player to avoid streaming delays.
Make the video available offline
- In the OneDrive app for mobile, select the video, open the menu, and choose Make available offline.
- This caches the file on the device so it can be played without depending on network performance.

These steps do not reduce the stored quality of the video; they change how it is accessed (local vs. streamed). If streaming performance remains poor across multiple networks and devices, using offline access (download or “Make available offline”) is the supported workaround in the current guidance.

References:

Share via

One Drive app is so painfully slow at playing videos it's almost unusable.

1 answer

Your answer