5 Ways to Fix YouTube 500 Internal Server Error

Fix YouTube 500 Internal Server Error: YouTube is one of the most popular and second-largest search engine on this planet. It contains videos for everyone from preschool children to grandparents, with new content being regularly added. Youtube is a pretty well-maintained site and there are very few issues that could disrupt your viewing experience.

One of the rare errors that you might come across is the Internal Server Error 500.

This error always has the knack of popping up at the most inappropriate of times. The error message displayed is ” Sorry, Something Went Wrong. A team of highly trained monkeys has been dispatched to deal with the situation”.

If you experience this error, you got to remember that you are not alone. In most cases, YouTube 500 Internal Server Error is displayed inside the internet browser window, just like the web pages.

Fortunately, you don’t need to have the brains of a rocket scientist to fix this issue. In this article, we will be looking at the error in detail, and provide step-by-step solutions to fix the error.

What is YouTube error 500?

This error is experienced when you are streaming YouTube videos. The error has nothing to do with your internet connection or computer settings. In fact, problems at the server-side of YouTube is responsible for this error. The similar error is also found on the WordPress sites.

Some of the common causes include the service being hacked, malfunctioning of servers, etc. The logical thing you can do is to wait for the YouTube team to fix it. However, before we give them a call, there are some YouTube 500 internal server error fixes and methods we can employ to make sure that our side of things is clean.

Causes of YouTube 500 Internal Server Error

The web browser works by sending a request over to the server where the site is hosted. The server accepts this request, processes it, and it returns back the requested resources like PHP, HTML along with an HTTP header.

This HTTP header contains a status code. A status code is basically a message that notifies you of the state of your request. It might be a 200 status code which means “Everything is Alright” or else a 500/503 status code which means something is faulty. 

Fix YouTube 500 Internal Server Error

The absolute solution for this error is to inform the YouTube team and wait until they fix it. However, there are various steps you can take in case this is a temporary problem, which might be possible.

Solution 1: Reload YouTube

1. Either press F5. Pressing Ctrl+Shift+R will hard reload your webpage.
2. You can also choose to click on the refresh button at the top left corner of the page, next to the URL bar.
3. Another last-ditch attempt that you can make is to repeatedly click on the forward and backward buttons.

Solution 2: Clear the cache

Some websites store cache and cookies on your computer to speed up the loading. Deleting them might solve the problem. This method varies depending on your browser.

Internet Explorer

1. Click on the settings tab.
2. Go to Internet Options.
3. Select the General tab.
4. You need to select the browsing history/Temporary Internet files.
5. Finally, choose the delete option and go back to Youtube.

Microsoft Edge

1. Head over to the settings tab.
2. Navigate to Privacy & security > What to clear from Edge’s setting panel.
3. Here, you can choose to delete Cookies, cache, history, etc. There is a checkbox near each of them. Simply click on then.
4. Later, tap on the clear button.
5. Now, head back to Youtube and see if the problem is gone.

Google Chrome

1. Click on the Settings option.
2. Now, head over to the Show Advanced Settings option.
3. Click on the Clear Browsing Data option.
4. Now, clear all the browsing history, cookies, other sites, and plugins, saved passwords, cached images, and files by clicking on the adjacent checkbox.
5. Finally, go to Youtube and see if the problem persists.

Mozilla Firefox

1. Navigate to ☰ > Option on your Firefox browser.
2. Move to the Privacy & Security section.
3. Scroll down a bit to reach Cookies and Site Data option.
4. Next, select the Clear Data button.
5. Finally, click on the Clear button.

Solution 3: Restart Your Browser

You can also try restarting your browser as a possible solution. If the issue still occurs, you can try changing your browser and logging in using a different Google account.

1. Open youtube.com on your preferred browser.
2. Click on your logged-in mail’s profile icon.
3. Tap on Switch account and it will ask you to log in with another Gmail account.

Solution 4: Contacting Youtube

Another option is to wait patiently and let the YouTube team do all the work. There is a good chance that the issue will be solved within a few minutes.

A slightly more aggressive approach would be to tweet @TeamYouTube. You can also reach out to them through their other social media pages.

Solution 5: Troubleshoot YouTube 500 Internal Server Error

• Don’t open multiple tabs at once.
• Try restarting your router.
• Delete browser extensions if any, particularly those related to Youtube.
• Update your browser to the newest version.
• Try rebooting the computer.
• Use Google Chrome if possible.

Wrapping up, 

In this article, we have provided you with all the information regarding Youtube Error 500 and its cause. As you can see, the error is mainly due to the server related problems of YouTube and the best option is to inform the Youtube team.

Make attempts with the solutions provided above. If the error still persists, let us know via comment section and we will try to troubleshoot ourselves.