Since the launch, Google has introduced many improvements to its YouTube apps for Android to make it load video faster and user friendly. One feature that Google recently introduced in YouTube app is ExoPlayer, which load video much faster, but this feature made unavailable for users due to some reasons. However, there is a workaround to enable this feature.
In this guide, we will let you know how to enable hidden ExoPlayer in YouTube app for Android, so your YouTube app will load video much faster. However, before you get start, your phone must be rooted and a root file explorer, such as ES File Manager or Root Explorer, must have installed on your phone.
The best way for watching YouTube videos on your Android phone is by installing YouTube app. Though the recent update brought speed optimizations to the YouTube app, the app still undergoes slow video loading problem. However, you can solve the issue some extend by enabling hidden ExoPlayer.
Enable Hidden ExoPlayer in YouTube App for Android to Load Video Faster
1. Download a file manager with root access like ES File Manager or Root Explorer.
2. Open your file manager and go to: /data/data/com.google.android.youtube/shared_prefs. Find a file called youtube.xml.
3. Edit youtube.xml file using a text editor (long tap and select edit). Find <map> and add these lines just below it.
<string name="exo_player_activation_type">ADAPTIVE</string>
<boolean name="enable_exo_cache" value="true"/>
<boolean name="show_exo_player_debug_messages" value="true"/>
4. Save the file and reboot your phone.
5. Open the YouTube app and if it crashes, delete app cache, then restart the app. Now, play a video and see how it loads video.
For your information, ExoPlayer is an experimental video player that Google has implemented in YouTube app via a recent update, but it is disabled for some reasons. The ExoPlayer makes YouTube videos to load much much faster (Source)
