Some 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pro owners have been experiencing kernel crashes when watching HDR YouTube videos, according to a number of complaints on the MacRumors forums.
As explained by MacRumors reader Cababah, watching an HDR YouTube video in Safari and then scrolling through the comments results in a kernel error on macOS Monterey 12.0.1. Watching YouTube in full screen and then and exiting full screen mode can also cause the error, and it may be primarily affecting 16GB machines, though 32GB/64GB models can also be affected.
Other MacRumors readers were able to replicate the error, which appears to happen after watching a few YouTube videos. From MacRumors reader spiritedaway:
Been happening to me as well, YouTube 4K HDR video on Safari. After closing full screen playback the Mac completely shuts down and reboots. M1 Pro 16". I can pretty much get it to do it every single time
From MacRumors reader Sam.b1:
I'm getting the same error under the same conditions, 4k HDR YouTube playback on Safari/Chrome. At first I thought it could have been some Chrome bug but then it crashed in Safari too. I'm running Monterey 12.0.1, 16 inch M1 Max with 32GB RAM. I haven't tried the workarounds yet. I'm thinking I should just exchange it, not sure.
Some MacBook Pro owners speculate that it's an issue with AV1 decoding, but it is not yet clear what the specific problem is or if it's something that can be fixed in a software update. Not all MacBook Pro owners are seeing this issue, but we were able to replicate it in our own testing.
The macOS Monterey 12.1 beta may fix the problem as some users are reporting improved performance after updating. If you're experiencing the same issue with YouTube, let us know in the comments.
