What happens if the internet goes down? (offline playback)

impressPlayer downloads content to the screen and plays it from local storage, so playback keeps running smoothly and survives short internet drops. Knowing how this works explains a lot of "why isn't my content updating?" situations.

Downloads are queued and prioritized

Only one download runs at a time; others wait in a queue, processed in order of importance:

Main playlist updates (highest) — can interrupt a regular download.
Temporary playlist updates — can also interrupt a regular download.
Regular downloads (e.g. pre-downloading a playlist).
Ads — managed separately, with de-duplication (the same ad won't download twice).

If a high-priority update arrives mid-download, the current download is paused, saved to the queue, and resumes after the important one finishes — nothing is lost.

Storage is managed automatically

Before downloading, the player checks free space and, if needed, deletes the oldest downloaded playlists to make room. You don't have to manage storage manually.

Failed and skipped tracks

Tracks already on the device are skipped (only new/changed content downloads).
If one track fails, the rest still download; the playlist plays minus the failed track.
If a whole download fails, the playlist isn't marked downloaded and the queue moves on.

Offline behaviour

Once downloaded, content plays from local storage — a brief internet outage won't stop playback.
Date-restricted content still needs an accurate clock (NTP) to play (see Show content only between certain dates).
For sites with many screens, screens can fetch content from each other to save bandwidth — see Local (peer-to-peer) downloads between screens.

"Why isn't my playlist updating?"

Still downloading / queued — a larger or higher-priority download is in progress; wait.
No / poor internet — the download can't progress; check connectivity.
Storage full — even after auto-cleanup there wasn't room; reduce content size.
Offline screen — it can't receive the update until it's back online; verify the publish (see Put a playlist on your screens (publishing)).