Troubleshoot HBO Max on your computer
- Need help signing in? See our Sign in page.
- Getting a playback error? Please see our Service error article.
- For audio help, see Sound issues or Subtitles, captions & audio tracks.
If videos are buffering, see HBO Max buffers or pauses.
The highest resolution supported by HBOMax.com is 1080p. If your display resolution is greater than 1080p, videos might not play full screen or may be clipped off. To resolve this, try changing your screen resolution.
If you're having trouble streaming at HBOMax.com, here are some things to try:
To do this, open a new browser window and search for 'Internet speed test.' Then run a speed test. To stream HD video, you need a minimum download speed of 5 Mbps. If videos are buffering, see HBO Max buffers or pauses.
Go to HBOMax.com and do a hard refresh for the page (this is not the same as the Reload button in your browser). To find out how to do this, search the Internet for 'hard refresh' + the name of your browser (e.g. 'hard refresh Chrome').
If you're using the Chrome browser on a PC, hold down the Ctrl key and click the Reload button (for Chrome on a Mac, hold down the Shift key and click the Reload button). Once the page is reloaded, try streaming again.
Make sure you're using a supported browser. See Supported browsers.
If your browser is supported, update your browser to the latest version. To find out how to do this, search the Internet for 'update + the name of your browser' (i.e. update Chrome browser).
- At HBOMax.com, choose your profile (upper right) and then choose Sign out.
- Close the browser window and restart your computer.
- Go to HBOMax.com and sign in, then try streaming again.
Change your browser's settings to allow autoplay for the play.hbomax.com website. To find out how to do this, search the Internet for 'autoplay + the name of your browser' (i.e. autoplay Chrome browser).
Safari on Mac
If you're using Safari 11 or later on your Mac, try these steps:
- Open the Safari browser and go to play.HBOMax.com.
- From the Safari menu, choose Settings for This Website.
- Hover your mouse beside Auto-Play and choose Allow All Auto-Play.
- Reload the page (press Command + R).
If this doesn't help, update your macOS (which includes the Safari browser) to the latest version your computer can use. To find out how, see Apple's Keep your Mac up to date article.
Try using a different supported browser.
If you don't have any problems with a different browser, check your browser configuration:
- Make sure third-party cookies are enabled.
- Disable ad-blocking software.
- Turn off private browsing or incognito mode.
- Disable browser plug-ins, extensions, and add-ons.
- Clear your browser's cache. To find out how to do this, search for 'clear cache' in your browser's help.
- Close and reopen your browser.
- Sign in to HBOMax.com and try streaming again.