Stop Netflix buffering for good: 5 simple tricks that actually work

1. Restart your router properly

Routers aren’t designed to run indefinitely without a reset. Over time, memory fills up with connection data and performance gradually degrades, which can cause streaming instability even when your internet speed tests fine.

Instead of simply switching it off and on again quickly, unplug your router from the wall and leave it completely off for at least 60 seconds. This forces a full reset and clears accumulated data, allowing the router to re-establish a clean connection with your provider.

When you plug it back in, wait for all the lights to stabilize before testing Netflix again.

2. Reduce network congestion

Even if your broadband speed is technically fast enough for Netflix, it may be stretched thin across too many devices. When multiple devices are streaming, downloading updates, running cloud backups, or uploading files simultaneously, your available bandwidth gets divided between them all.

Temporarily pause large downloads on other devices, disconnect gadgets you’re not actively using, and avoid running cloud backups while watching Netflix. Gaming consoles, smart home devices, and phones all consume bandwidth in the background even when you’re not actively using them.

Freeing up bandwidth this way can noticeably improve picture stability without touching your router or internet plan. You’ll often see immediate improvement once competing devices stop fighting for the same connection.

3. Lower Netflix’s playback quality

Ultra HD streaming looks impressive, but it demands far more bandwidth than HD and if your internet connection fluctuates even slightly, 4K streaming will buffer constantly. Manually lowering playback quality can stabilize performance without a noticeable drop in picture sharpness, especially on smaller screens.

Go to your Netflix account settings on a web browser, select your profile, and adjust Playback Settings from High or Auto to Medium. This caps streaming at HD rather than 4K, which uses significantly less bandwidth and reduces the chance of interruptions. You can always switch back to High quality once your connection stabilizes.

4. Restart your streaming device

Sometimes the bottleneck isn’t your internet connection or router — it’s the device running Netflix. Smart TVs, streaming sticks, laptops, and phones accumulate background processes over time that consume memory and processing power.

Restarting your device clears temporary files, closes background apps, and gives Netflix a fresh start with full system resources available. On smart TVs and streaming sticks, unplug the device from power for 30 seconds before plugging it back in. On laptops and phones, a standard restart works fine.

It’s a quick reset that often resolves unexplained freezing or buffering that occurs even when internet speed tests show no problems.

5. Clear cache or reinstall the Netflix app

If buffering only occurs on one device and restarting doesn’t help, corrupted app data could be responsible. Netflix stores temporary files and playback data locally, and if these files become corrupted, they can cause persistent buffering or playback glitches that don’t happen on other devices.

On a web browser, clear your cache and browsing data before logging back into Netflix. On Android devices, go to Settings, Apps, Netflix, Storage and clear the app’s cache. On iPhone or iPad, deleting and reinstalling the Netflix app achieves the same result since iOS doesn’t allow manual cache clearing.

Refreshing the app this way removes often eliminates persistent playback issues that survive restarts. If Netflix works normally after clearing cache or reinstalling, corrupted data was the problem — not your internet connection.