With hundreds of millions of people staying at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of people are relying on streaming services to be entertained or to learn things. YouTube hopes to curb the now constant use of internet bandwidth by defaulting videos around the world to standard definition when streaming for a month. You can still watch clips in high definition, but you will need to select it from the settings.
YouTube doesn't think the world will run out of internet bandwidth soon, but Google wanted to take preemptive measures to ensure the network runs smoothly during this crisis. Google said in a statement, "We continue to work closely with governments and network operators around the globe to do our part to minimize stress on the system during this unprecedented situation."
Source: Bloomberg