[Solved!]Google Drive Video Still Processing? – Beginner’s guide

“Why are there a couple videos that are “video is still processing” when I upload it on Google Drive? The video isn’t long and it’s been hours.”
                                                                                            —Question from Quora

Many users have suffered from a Google Drive video processing problem, which is a common error that often occurs when you upload/download your video to Google Drive or access your uploaded videos. And error messages would appear, like “Video is still processing & can be downloaded later.”  “We’re processing this video. Please check back later.” or “We’re processing this video. Check back later or download the video now.” 

So how long it normally takes, and how to solve these problems, in this article, we will discuss the reasons and methods to deal with it.

What is Google Drive Video Still Processing?

When you upload a video to Google Drive, the server will convert your video into different formats, codecs, and resolutions that you can open it online and redownload on any compatible device, and the step is called processing. 

Reasons Google Drive Video Still Processing

When using Google Drive to upload specific format videos or access uploaded videos, play them on different devices and you encounter this Google Drive video still processing problem. Many reasons can contribute to it. The main reasons are below:

Video file issues	Overlarge video file
	Unsupported video format
Internet connection issues	Poor or interrupted internet condition
Browser problems	Outdated browser
	Corrupted browser cache
Server error	Google Drive server crashed
Storage running out	The storage of Google Drive is running out

How Long Does It Take to Process a Video on Google Drive?

No exact cost time is revealed by the official developer team. But normally, your uploading files onto any storage platform depends on the file size, the internet connection condition, and the processing capacity of your device. So, there is a range of time from a few minutes to hours to upload a video to Google Drive or play a video via Google Drive. Generally, a 2 GB video may take about 1 hour to upload and 20 minutes to process. Therefore, to make the processing end faster, we have methods to deal with this Google Drive video still processing problem.

How To Fix Google Drive Video Still Processing?

Follow these methods to troubleshoot and fix the problem.

Check Your Internet Connection

A high-speed, stable internet connection is vital to your shorter Google Drive smooth video processing. 

#Check wires and cables

Cable being loosened or damaged will cause internet issues. Just check your wires and cables to see if the physical connection is functioning. Or not, you may need a new one.

#Reset Router 

You can reset your router to save poor internet conditions.

Step 1. Keep your router plugged in.

Step 2. Find the reset button on your router. 

Step 3. Use a pin or paperclip to press and hold down the reset button for at least 10 seconds and release the button.

Step 4. Wait for the router to reset until the power light flashes.

You can watch the detailed steps from the video:

#Run network troubleshooting

Network troubleshooting is a Windows utility to identify and resolve network issues by analyzing network-related operations.

Step 1. Type Troubleshoot settings in the search bar at the start.

Step 2. Find and click Additional troubleshooters.

Step 3. Run the Network Adapter troubleshooter to check the internet connection. 

Step 4. If the troubleshooter can not run the diagnostic text, try to restart the computer and check for Windows updates or seek professional help.

Step 5. If the troubleshooter is functional, select the network adapter in the context menu (click All network adapters) > click on Next.

Step 6. Wait for a while.

Step 7. If there is a saying Troubleshooting couldn’t identify the problem, close the box. If there is indeed a problem, just follow the on-screen instructions. 

Resign In Your Google Drive Account

Sometimes, there are laggings, bugs, and glitches in your Google account, and it is not your fault. So, log out of your account, close your browser, and log in again your account. Try to access or upload your video to your Google Drive to see if this is helpful.

Check Your Video File

#Reduce your file size

If the video is too big, the system will take more time to decode. No matter whether you are trying to upload it or watch it online. So, try to reduce the video size. You can compress the video by using some compressors.

#Check the video format

Not all the video formats are supported by Google Drive. Below are the supported formats listed based on Store & Play Video in Google Drive:

• WebM files (Vp8 video codec; Vorbis Audio codec)
• MPEG4, 3GPP, and MOV files (h264 and MPEG4 video codecs; AAC audio codec)
• AVI (MJPEG video codec; PCM audio)
• MPEGPS (MPEG2 video codec; MP2 audio)
• WMV
• FLV (Adobe – FLV1 video codec, MP3 audio)
• MTS
• OGG

Have a look at the format. If not, use the converter to transmit the formats.

Check The Google Drive Storage

All Google Accounts include 15 GB of storage. If you use out all the space, the usage may be limited, and uploading video files will fail to process.

Go to https://www.google.com/settings/storage to see how much storage space you have used, the webpage will tell you the specific bar that used the space.

If the storage is running out, you should delete some useless files to free up storage space. If you do have lots of valuable files, you can think about backing up Google Drive to External Hard Drive or purchasing more storage space on the Google One storage plan.

Google One Plan	Payment	Availability
100 GB	Monthly or yearly	Everyone
200 GB	Monthly or yearly	Everyone
2 TB	Monthly or yearly	Everyone
5 TB	Monthly or yearly	Upgrade for existing members
10 TB	Monthly	Upgrade for existing members
20 TB	Monthly	Upgrade for existing members
30 TB	Monthly	Upgrade for existing members

Update Your Browser To The Latest Version

After the above four fixes, they are not helping. Update your browser to the latest version. For most occasions, browser problems may lead to a slow processing time when dealing with online videos. So, as two mainstream browsers, we take Chrome and Edge to show how to update them.

#Chrome:

Step 1. Open Chrome.

Step 2. Click three dots at the top right corner.

Step 3. Click help > About Google Chrome.

Step 4. If you are using the latest version, there is a saying, “Chrome is up to date.” If there are any updates available, just click it to have an auto-update and Relaunch the browser.

#Edge:

Step 1. Open Edge.

Step 2. Click three dots at the top right corner.

Step 3. Click Help and Feedback> About Microsoft Edge.

Step 4. If you are using the latest version, there is a saying, “Chrome is up to date.” If there are any updates available, just click it to have an auto-update and Restart the browser.

Clear Browser Caches 

Apart from updating your browsers to the latest versions, you need to check the data and caches as well. The accumulated caches and data will drag down the speed of processing videos, and clearing these caches may solve this problem on your browser, too. Still, we take Chrome and Edge as examples to show how to do it. 

#Chrome:

Step 1. Open Chrome.

Step 2. Click three dots at the top right corner.

Step 3. Click on Clear browsing data or you can press the Shift+Ctrl+Del keys.

Step 3. Select All time in the time range and choose everything in the context menu.

Step 4. After the selection, click on Clear data.

#Edge:

Step 1. Open Edge.

Step 2. Click on the three dots at the top right corner.

Step 3. Click on Settings.

Step 4. Click on Privacy, search, and services.

Step 5. Scroll down and find Clear browsing data. 

Step 6. Click on Choose what to clear.

Step 7. Select All time in the time range and choose all items in the context menu.

Step 8. Click on Clear now.

Check The Google Drive Server Status

If the Google Drive server is down for multiple reasons, you can only ask for help from the Google specialist.

How to know the server is down: go to these websites.

https://isdown.app/integrations/google-workspace/google-drive

And, you can check the Google Workspace Status Dashboard. If there is a red dot next to Google products, there is a problem, and you can check the details by clicking the red dot.

Contact Google Drive support

If none of these above methods can help,  get help with Google Drive support via:

• Google Product Forum: describe your problem and when the specialists see it, they will give you an answer.
• Google Drive Twitter: leave them a message and wait for the answer.
• Submit User Feedback: Go to drive.google.com >click Help > click Send feedback. > Enter your feedback > Send.

Alternatives: Use Other Cloud-based Storage Platforms

There are a lot of cloud-based file storage platforms like Dropbox, OneDrive, Microsoft Azure, PCLOUD, FileCloud, etc. You can use whichever you like to store your favored videos.

FAQs

Question 1: Can I put a video paywall on Google Drive?

Technically, yes (see Structured data for subscription and paywalled content), you can put a video paywall on your Google Drive. However, you will need to use a third-party video hosting platform as well. And you need to consider copyright issues with the content if the video content is not yours. 

Question 2: How to upload a video to Google Drive?

On PC/Mac:

Step 1. Go to drive.google.com and sign in to your Google account. 

Step 2. Click My Drive and if you need, you can create a new folder for the video under My Drive.

Step 3. Click the +New icon at the top left corner.

Step 4. Click File Upload.

Step 5. Select the video you want to upload > click Open.

Step 6. The uploading will start and you can see a status bar at the bottom right.

On Phone:

Step 1. Launch the Google Drive app on your phone.

Step 2. Sign into your Google account.

Step 3. Click Files at the bottom right.

Step 4. Tap on the +icon at the bottom right corner.

Step 5. Click Upload.

Step 6. Choose Photos and Videos.

Step 7. Choose the video you want to upload > tap on Upload at the top right corner.

Question 3: How to view Google Drive offline?

If you have no internet connection, you can still view Google Drive files if you have turned on the Google Drive access offline feature, including Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Slides.

Step 1. Open Chrome.

Step 2. Install and turn on Google Docs Offline Chrome extension.

Step 3. Sign in to your Google account.

Step 4. Click the gear icon at the top right on the My Drive page.

Step 5. Click General from the left pane > enable Create, open, and edit your  Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides…while offline.

#Question 4: How to fix a temporary Error (502) when opening Google Drive files?

If there is an error message 502 when you try to open a file on Google Drive, just wait for a while. The file may be temporarily unavailable. And the issue is not permanent, just wait a few moments to open the file again.

Conclusion

Above are all the methods we offer to you to fix Google Drive video processing problems. Hope you now have a better understanding of what is Google Drive video processing and the reasons for this problem. Some methods are also effective when videos don’t play on mobile phones so if you encounter similar issues, just have a try. Also, if you have any better ideas on how to fix Google Drive video processing problems, feel free to let us know.