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I can't view youtube videos in firefox but can in other browsers.

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I went to the Mozilla support forum and followed instructions that were posted and the following were the results:

I disabled my addons one by one and finally all of them together restarting firefox after each action and trying to view a youtube video but nothing changed and youtube still did not work.

I opened firefox in the safe mode and was able to view a youtube video in that mode but upon return to the normal firefox browser i was still unable to view a youtube video.

Any ideas?

I went to the Mozilla support forum and followed instructions that were posted and the following were the results: I disabled my addons one by one and finally all of them together restarting firefox after each action and trying to view a youtube video but nothing changed and youtube still did not work. I opened firefox in the safe mode and was able to view a youtube video in that mode but upon return to the normal firefox browser i was still unable to view a youtube video. Any ideas?

Chosen solution

'I found this solution in another feed. It seems to have solved my problem with the streaming video issue.


Chosen solution

Another thing to try : Try disabling graphics hardware acceleration in Firefox. Since this feature was added to Firefox it has gradually improved but there are still a few glitches.

You will need to restart Firefox for this to take effect so save all work first (e.g., mail you are composing, online documents you're editing, etc.,) and then perform these steps:

In Firefox 54 and below:

  Click the menu button New Fx Menu and select Options (Windows) or Preferences (Mac, Linux).
  Select the Advanced panel and the General tab.
  Uncheck Use hardware acceleration when available.
  Close Firefox completely and then restart Firefox to see if the problem persists. 

In Firefox 55 and above:

  Click the menu button New Fx Menu and select Options (Windows) or Preferences (Mac, Linux).
  Select the General panel.
  Under Performance, uncheck Use recommended performance settings. Additional settings will be displayed.
  Fx55Performance-disableHWA
  Uncheck Use hardware acceleration when available.
  Close Firefox completely and then restart Firefox to see if the problem persists. 

Did this fix your problems? Please report back to us!

If the problem is resolved, you should check for updates for your graphics driver by following the steps mentioned in these Knowledge base articles:

  Troubleshoot extensions, themes and hardware acceleration issues to solve common Firefox problems 
  Upgrade your graphics drivers to use hardware acceleration and Web
Read this answer in context 👍 3

All Replies (7)

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Chosen Solution

'I found this solution in another feed. It seems to have solved my problem with the streaming video issue.


Chosen solution

Another thing to try : Try disabling graphics hardware acceleration in Firefox. Since this feature was added to Firefox it has gradually improved but there are still a few glitches.

You will need to restart Firefox for this to take effect so save all work first (e.g., mail you are composing, online documents you're editing, etc.,) and then perform these steps:

In Firefox 54 and below:

  Click the menu button New Fx Menu and select Options (Windows) or Preferences (Mac, Linux).
  Select the Advanced panel and the General tab.
  Uncheck Use hardware acceleration when available.
  Close Firefox completely and then restart Firefox to see if the problem persists. 

In Firefox 55 and above:

  Click the menu button New Fx Menu and select Options (Windows) or Preferences (Mac, Linux).
  Select the General panel.
  Under Performance, uncheck Use recommended performance settings. Additional settings will be displayed.
  Fx55Performance-disableHWA
  Uncheck Use hardware acceleration when available.
  Close Firefox completely and then restart Firefox to see if the problem persists. 

Did this fix your problems? Please report back to us!

If the problem is resolved, you should check for updates for your graphics driver by following the steps mentioned in these Knowledge base articles:

  Troubleshoot extensions, themes and hardware acceleration issues to solve common Firefox problems 
  Upgrade your graphics drivers to use hardware acceleration and Web
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That was very good work. Well done. Please flag your last post as Solved Problem so others will know.

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Problem solved! Thanks very much for the great and simple to understand advice.

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You are welcome. I'm glad I was able to find a solution for all of us with video issues.

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I am having the same problem with the newest version of Firefox, 60.0.2. I've tried the above suggestion and still can't view any Youtube videos. When I go to Youtube.com the screen flashes the home page for a second then goes blank. When I do a search and get some Youtube video results all I get when I play the video is the sound, no video, just the spinning circle.

This has happened only since the latest "update" from Firefox.

If I use Internet Explorer everything works fine on Youtube.

Any other suggestions?

Thank you, Joe

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joseph-rowland Have you tried what is posted above?

Please go to the top of any support.mozilla.org web page and use the Ask A Question link; https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/new Select the product for what the problem is (Firefox or whatever).

Now select the category for the problem. At the bottom is Other.

Describe the problem in brief (one line). Then press <enter>. The website will display any prior posts that might help you. If nothing on the list can help, at the bottom press the button; None Of These Solve My Problem.

Now enter all the relative information on the problem. At the bottom of this, you can Add Images.

Under this is Troubleshooting Information. Please press the Share Data button. This will let us look at your system details. No Personal Information Is Collected.

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hi Fred,

Yes, I've done exactly what was described in "chosen solution" and nothing changed. I checked my plugins and add-ons and there are no Youtube plugin or add-on, so nothing to deactivate or remove.

I'll go through the Ask a Question process and see what I get.

thank you, Joe