YouTube

YouTube fixing widespread ‘processing will begin shortly’ delay while uploading videos

Ben Schoon | Jan 9 2026 - 10:30 am PT

YouTube has confirmed a widespread upload issue that delays video processing for upwards of 30 minutes and is also looking for a fix.

Uploading a video to YouTube is typically a pretty quick process. The file upload is done in the background as the creator fills out the title, description, and various other details about the video before it goes public. At the end, YouTube processes the video in the background and, if your internet upload speeds are quick, you can usually get a video published within 15-20 minutes.

That has not been the case for many as of late, though.

Over the past several days, many creators have noticed an issue that their video uploads have been stuck in processing, with a “processing will begin shortly” message appearing on the dashboard. The issue led Google to publish a note to the community confirming the issue and that it would be fixed. The post has amassed over 6,000 comments from affected creators.

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YouTube says:

We’re aware that some creators across the globe are experiencing longer-than-usual video processing times.

What you might see:

Prolonged “Processing will begin shortly” or “Processing delayed” message.

Videos stuck in processing for 30+ minutes.

Our teams are actively investigating and working on a fix. While we search for a long-term solution, we’ll continue to update this thread with more information. Thanks for sticking with us!

While it’s good news that YouTube is aware of the processing delay and working to fix it, there’s still no word on when this will be fixed, even now, three days after the problem was first acknowledged. There’s also no workaround, with creators just needing to wait it out for a video to be fully processed.

We’ll update this post as more information becomes available. If you’re having trouble with YouTube’s processing delay, let us know in the comments below.