Change Nest camera or doorbell video quality to reduce bandwidth use
Video quality settings let you choose how much bandwidth your Google Nest camera or doorbell uses to stream live video. The higher the quality setting is, the more bandwidth is used.
No matter what you pick, your camera and the app will automatically adjust the resolution to work with the available bandwidth.
You can check how much bandwidth and total monthly data is required to use your camera at each video quality level in our Help Center.
Nest camera internet bandwidth requirements
Change video quality settings
This setting lets you pick the maximum video quality. Follow the app instructions for your camera or doorbell to adjust the video quality.
No matter which level you choose, your camera will automatically adjust its resolution and compression according to how much bandwidth is available.
Google Home app
- Open the Google Home app 👁 Google Home app
. - Tap Home 👁 Image
👁 and then
Cameras 👁 Image
👁 and then
your camera. - At the top right, Tap More 👁 More menu
👁 and then
Settings 👁 Image
. - Under “Video quality,” choose Max or High.
- High settings uses less bandwidth.
- Max settings uses more bandwidth.
Nest app
- Open the Nest app 👁 Nest app
- On the home screen, select your camera.
- Tap Settings 👁 Nest settings icon
👁 and then
Quality and bandwidth. - Adjust the video quality for your camera.
- Low: Uses the least bandwidth.
- High: Uses more bandwidth.
Understand what happens when you change the video quality
When you pick a video quality setting, it determines the quality of the live video stream and the quality at which the video gets recorded and saved. You won’t be able to go back and watch your saved video at a higher video quality.
After you change the quality and bandwidth setting, your camera will take a moment to restart and switch to the new video quality setting. There might be a few seconds gap in your video history while your camera restarts.
Troubleshoot Wi-Fi issues
If your camera frequently disconnects, or other Wi-Fi devices are slower when your camera is streaming, lower your camera’s quality and bandwidth setting to help fix the immediate issue.
If this persists, try to troubleshoot the root cause, which is usually a Wi-Fi connection issue. Refer to Fix Nest camera or doorbell Wi-Fi connection issues.