Flash 11.3 doesn't load video in Firefox

Revision Information
  • Revision id: 26861
  • Created:
  • Creator: Matt_G
  • Comment: Per Kebyl and Cheng: Added an alternative to the RealPlayer Record extension. Hopefully people will stop turning RealPlayer back on.
  • Reviewed: No
  • Ready for localization: No
Revision Source
Revision Content

Flash has recently updated to version 11.3. Some users are reporting issues with this version of Flash and Firefox. The video may appear black, white or grey and never play. This article has a few solutions that have been reported to work.

There are several steps that you can try to remedy this situation. Each step is valuable in troubleshooting this issue.

Please try these steps in order.

If RealPlayer is installed, try this first

Turn off Web Download & Recording in RealPlayer

  1. Launch RealPlayer
  2. Click the RealPlayer icon in the upper left corner of the window and choose Preferences.
  3. Choose Download & Recording from the left hand panel
  4. Uncheck "Enable Web Download & Recording for these installed browsers"
  5. Click OK and close RealPlayer
  6. Restart Firefox
Note: This will remove the RealPlayer Browser Record extension from the Firefox Add-ons Manager.

Disable the RealPlayer Browser Record extension in Firefox

Note: The RealPlayer Browser Record extension has been blocklisted. If you re-enabled it afterwards, you can use the following steps to disable it again. As an alternative to the RealPlayer Browser Record extension, you may want to try the Easy YouTube Video Downloader or one of the other amazing Firefox Add-ons.
  1. Click the menu button Fx89menuButton, click Add-ons and themesExtensions and themes and select Extensions.
  2. Select the RealPlayer Browser Record extension.
  3. Click the Disable button.
  4. Click Restart now. Your tabs will be saved and restored after the restart.

Uninstall RealPlayer

If disabling or turning off the Browser Record feature did not resolve the issue, please try uninstalling RealPlayer from your computer: Uninstalling RealPlayer on Windows

Uninstall RealPlayer

If disabling or turning off the Browser Record feature did not resolve the issue, please try uninstalling RealPlayer from your computer: Uninstalling RealPlayer on Mac

Downgrade Flash

If the previous steps did not resolve your issue or Flash is constantly crashing, you should uninstall Flash 11.3 and downgrade to Flash 10.3 or 11.2. You can find steps for downgrading Flash in: Adobe Flash plugin has crashed - Prevent it from happening again