# Feature Request - Manually Select Buffer Size
**URL:** https://forums.plex.tv/t/feature-request-manually-select-buffer-size/656138
**Category:** Feature Suggestions
**Created:** [November 22, 2020, 4:23am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/feature-request-manually-select-buffer-size/656138 "2020-11-22T04:23:29Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@joel.wraight](https://forums.plex.tv/u/joel.wraight)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2020, 4:23am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/feature-request-manually-select-buffer-size/656138/1 "2020-11-22T04:23:29Z")
After struggling with buffering playing back RAW 4K demo footage, I noticed there is no option to tell Plex “Buffer for longer” or “Preload this many MB” or “Preload the whole video clip before playing”. I am a Plex Lifetime Pass user and have been using Plex for many years. But a Server-Side preference feature for default playback ‘Buffer Size’ or ‘Preloading’ would be a brilliant thing for myself and I’m sure for other people too.
After searching the Forums it seems there is no way to do this and I’m therefore creating this as a feature request.
---
### Author:  [@Wisdom](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Wisdom)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2020, 5:30am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/feature-request-manually-select-buffer-size/656138/2 "2020-11-22T05:30:20Z")
Is that not what the _Transcoder default throttle buffer_ is supposed to signal? That’s Settings -\> Transcoder -\> Show Advanced. I might have misunderstood what it was designed to do, but I can also see how even if working as intended, it might not solve your issue. There’s a difference between buffering faster and flagging the system to stop buffering.
I agree, it would be nice if Plex was sometimes more aggressive with system resource usage. Particularly if it was within our control.
---
### Author:  [@joel.wraight](https://forums.plex.tv/u/joel.wraight)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2020, 5:54am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/feature-request-manually-select-buffer-size/656138/3 "2020-11-22T05:54:58Z")
It’s a bit confusing to be honest. I’ve just taken a look at what you suggested. I’m going to guess that is for ‘transcoding’ only and it won’t give me control over buffer time / amount using DirectPlay, which is what I use as I play original quality only.
---
### Author:  [@Volts](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Volts)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2020, 8:20am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/feature-request-manually-select-buffer-size/656138/4 "2020-11-22T08:20:17Z")
Why? And for which client/playback devices?
I remember the bad old days of hitting `Play` and then `Pause`, watching the buffer fill, hitting `Play`, and then being infuriated when playback was interrupted again. It was horrible!
If you’re comfortable waiting for playback to start, desktop and phone clients can download the original. (Or an optimized version.)
And all clients can play a reduced-bitrate version. (Transcoded on the fly, or optimized in advance.) If you let Plex, it will figure out a sustainable bitrate.
_Transcoder default throttle_ applies only when the server is performing transcoding, and affects how far ahead the transcoding process gets compared to what has been requested by the client. It doesn’t affect the client’s download/cache/buffering process.
---
### Author:  [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2020, 9:29am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/feature-request-manually-select-buffer-size/656138/5 "2020-11-22T09:29:04Z")
Such a setting would be only feasible on a computer, which has a large hard drive.
How should this work on a streaming box/STB which has only very limited RAM and close to zero flash memory?
Tip: try Plex Media Player. It has just such a setting.
---
### Author:  [@amavin](https://forums.plex.tv/u/amavin)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2020, 10:03pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/feature-request-manually-select-buffer-size/656138/6 "2020-12-05T22:03:01Z")
I think that such a feature would be nice to have as well. I struggle to play 4k HDR (~64Mbit/s) content on my LG B8 TV, streaming remotely over the internet (with 200Mbit/s both locations, avg. 23ms delay). The TV is just barely able to keep up, and just ends up stuttering, not even showing the “buffering spinner”, so a few extra MB of cache would probably make all the difference.
> Such a setting would be only feasible on a computer, which has a large hard drive.
> How should this work on a streaming box/STB which has only very limited RAM and close to zero flash memory?
I don’t see how it matters how much RAM is available? Surely plex doesn’t use the maximum that is available in all cases at the moment. The setting should of course have a maximum that reflects the current devices limitations. A lot of devices that are used as playback devices have a lot of free RAM available… PS, Xbox, Nvidia shield, phones, and probably a lot of new TVs…
---
### Author:  [@tom80H](https://forums.plex.tv/u/tom80H)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2021, 1:56pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/feature-request-manually-select-buffer-size/656138/7 "2021-04-18T13:56:21Z")
Early 2021 clean-up: duplicate
> [@\[Very Popular\] myPlex: buffer content Youtube-style](https://forums.plex.tv/t/very-popular-myplex-buffer-content-youtube-style/20601):
>
> Better buffering of content from remote myPlex serversMany domestic Internet uplinks are weak. People want to view and share their content from their home Internet. So: Buffer content Youtube-style. When I pause a stream, keep caching it ahead as much as I want it to. This is a great idea, that: - would give much better viewing experience from remote and shared myPlex servers. - is intuitive: everyone who's ever used Youtube already knows how this works. - lets you view high quality conten…
---
### Author:  [@tom80H](https://forums.plex.tv/u/tom80H)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2021, 12:21am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/feature-request-manually-select-buffer-size/656138/8 "2021-06-10T00:21:44Z")