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Videos do not play in FireFox - UPDATE

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  • 3 have this problem
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  • Last reply by Exare

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I wanted to provide an update for a closed thread I opened ~3 months ago. That topic can be found here:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1384191#question-reply

UPDATE I reinstalled Windows - "downgrading" to Windows 10 - same problem; videos of any sort from any source did not play in Firefox, sound or anything.

Firefox now plays videos after navigating to the .exe file, turning on "Windows Compatibility Mode", and setting it to Windows 8.

I wanted to provide an update for a closed thread I opened ~3 months ago. That topic can be found here: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1384191#question-reply '''UPDATE''' I reinstalled Windows - "downgrading" to Windows 10 - same problem; videos of any sort from any source did not play in Firefox, sound or anything. Firefox now plays videos after navigating to the .exe file, turning on "Windows Compatibility Mode", and setting it to Windows 8.

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Original post copied below:

I updated my Firefox today and now videos do not play.

I had this problem back in April after an update and I spent weeks troubleshooting it. Eventually I got it to work after trying all of the following (then, and again now):

Things I've Tried: 1.) Clearing data (cache and cookies) 2.) Turning off "Strict Mode0" 3.) Running CCleaner 4.) Disabling/enabling HW acceleration 5.) Checking that the DRM box is checked (and trying it without it checked) 6.) Refreshing Firefox 7.) Uninstalling/Reinstalling 8.) Updating my Windows install 9.) Updating drivers 10.) Disabling all Firefox extensions 11.) Running without extensions 12.) Running in Firefox Troubleshooting Mode 13.) Running Windows in Safe Mode with Networking 14.) Running a fresh install of Firefox without signing in after deleting all traces of Firefox from my PC (including Program Data folders, registry entries, etc.)

What finally worked back in April was to dive into "about:config" and change "media.rdd-processenable" to "false".

That fix does not work this time around.

In the meantime I've been using Brave and having no issues. I've tried video playback in Chrome, Opera, and Edge on this computer with no issues. This playback problem is exclusive to Firefox.

Video playback still works just fine on my 4 home PCs running Windows 10 and Pop_OS (3 self-built, one Asus laptop) using this same build of Firefox.

Other/Rant: I suspect this is a Firefox/Windows 11 problem. Most likely this is not something I can fix myself, but it's incredibly frustrating since I'm buried deep in the Mozilla ecosystem and use it for work. I'd prefer not to have to swap between browsers just so I can watch videos; too many windows open on this tiny work laptop isn't fun to juggle. Basic video playback is the #1 thing I use my web browser for at both work and home so it'd be nice if this irritating, months-long, unacceptable issue were resolved. A modern browser that has video playback issues? What good is it then? What's most irritating is that it seems I'm the one of a very small number of users with this issue, since I see very little posted about it online.

I've been a Firefox user primarily for almost half a decade now - moved over from Chrome for privacy issues. Never had a problem until 4/22 of this year and considering it's still an issue 3 months later... it has me re-evaluating the reliability and my commitment to an otherwise amazing browser.

Modified by Exare