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, the more bandwidth is used.
No matter what you pick, your camera and the app 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.
Learn about internet bandwidth & speed requirements for Nest cameras.
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.
Your camera automatically adjusts its resolution and compression. This happens according to available bandwidth, no matter your chosen level.
Google Home app
- Open the Google Home app
.
- Tap Home
Cameras
- Tap on the player to bring up the overlay.
- At the top right, tap Settings
- Choose Max, Optimized (default), or Low.
- Max: Uses more bandwidth.
- Optimized: Uses balanced bandwidth.
- Low: Uses least bandwidth.
Nest app
- Open the Nest app
.
- On the home screen, select your camera.
- Tap Settings
- Adjust the video quality for your camera.
- Low: Uses the least bandwidth.
- High: Uses more bandwidth.
Understand the effects of changes to video quality
The chosen video quality setting determines the live stream quality. It also sets the quality for recorded and saved video. You cannot go back and watch your saved video at a higher video quality.
After the settings change, your camera restarts and switches 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 issues with your Nest camera or doorbell Wi-Fi.