Windows System requirements

Joost runs well on most modern PCs equipped with the latest updates to the Windows operating system. Recommended minimum specifications are as follows:

  • Windows XP Service Pack 2 or Vista, with DirectX 9.0c (note that you need to have an administrator account)
  • Pentium 4 processor, 1 GHz
  • 512 MB or more RAM
  • A modern video card with DirectX support and at least 32 MB of VRAM
  • About 500 MB free disk space
  • The Joost software is a 10 MB download, expanding to 30-35 MB on disk. The remainder is used as a cache
  • Broadband/ADSL (1 Mbit/s downstream, 512 Kbit/s upstream recommended, although lower speeds may well work)
  • 1 hour of viewing is 320 Megabytes downloaded and 105 Megabytes uploaded, which means that a 1 GB cap will be exhausted in about 10 hours (see important note below)

Network settings

You'll need to check that your firewall or router is configured to allow access by Joost application. In particular, make sure that the following are enabled:

  • TCP access, outbound, to ports 80, 443 and 5223.
  • UDP access, outbound, to port 4166 and 33333.
  • If you want to chat from within Joost, you'll also need to enable inbound TCP access to port 5223.

Check also that your network has DNS servers configured – Joost software makes regular DNS requests like any other application.

Important notice for users with limits on their internet usage

You need to read this carefully if:

  • you have an upper limit on your monthly internet usage, or
  • you pay for internet usage as you go (i.e. you pay per megabyte you download, instead of a flat fee).

Joost is a streaming video application. It actively manages available bandwidth, and when it senses bandwidth might be saturated, it automatically limits usage. In any case, Joost uses a relatively high amount of bandwidth per hour, which means that it could exceed a 1 GB cap in a few hours.

Note that the application continues to run in the background after you close the main window. If you pay for your bandwidth usage per megabyte or have your usage capped by your ISP, you should be careful to always exit the Joost software completely when you are finished watching it.

To stop using bandwidth, you need to exit the software entirely as follows:

Right-click on the Joost icon in the system tray (at the bottom right hand corner of your screen) and choose Exit.


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