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Firefox cannot play youtube videos (only from youtube, other video sites work fine)

  • 26 replies
  • 595 have this problem
  • 23 views
  • Last reply by John99

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Since about a week ago firefox in my laptop cannot play videos from youtube (only from youtube, videos from other sites and flash games work fine), both on the site or embedded on other site. It just shows "an error occured. Please try again later" I'm using firefox 13.0.1 and the latest flash plugin. My laptop is i5 with win7 64 bit and it's clean, no virus or malware.

I've tried all the solution posted here but nothing works. I've tried uninstall-reinstall both firefox and flash, disabled add-ons, safe mode, downgrade to earlier flash, uninstall realplayer, changed dns, reconfigured my modem, called my good-for-nothing ISP (perhaps connection related?), still cannot play videos from youtube.

I've tried using different computer, I used my old winxp pc with older version of firefox (with same configuration as the firefox I'm using in my laptop) and my ipad, they can play videos but the playback is stuttering which never happened before. Strangely enough, I tried chrome (on the same laptop) and it works well, no stutters. Does this problem has something to do with firefox updates, flash updates, both, or something else?

Please help me, I don't want to go back and forth between browsers just to see video in youtube and I really don't want to change browser. Thanks!

Since about a week ago firefox in my laptop cannot play videos from youtube (only from youtube, videos from other sites and flash games work fine), both on the site or embedded on other site. It just shows "an error occured. Please try again later" I'm using firefox 13.0.1 and the latest flash plugin. My laptop is i5 with win7 64 bit and it's clean, no virus or malware. I've tried all the solution posted here but nothing works. I've tried uninstall-reinstall both firefox and flash, disabled add-ons, safe mode, downgrade to earlier flash, uninstall realplayer, changed dns, reconfigured my modem, called my good-for-nothing ISP (perhaps connection related?), still cannot play videos from youtube. I've tried using different computer, I used my old winxp pc with older version of firefox (with same configuration as the firefox I'm using in my laptop) and my ipad, they can play videos but the playback is stuttering which never happened before. Strangely enough, I tried chrome (on the same laptop) and it works well, no stutters. Does this problem has something to do with firefox updates, flash updates, both, or something else? Please help me, I don't want to go back and forth between browsers just to see video in youtube and I really don't want to change browser. Thanks!

Chosen solution

That's very strange... this will also be a very long shot but it's possible that because of the long url (&feature=relmfu) it worked. I highly doubt that is the case.

I do recommend deleting your cookies, either all of them or any of them from youtube.

And you probably already tried this, but playing the video on quality different settings might do something.

And last of all, did you try to contact youtube/google about this issue, or restart your pc after making sure all of your stuff are up to date? (you probably did both)

Read this answer in context 👍 10

All Replies (20)

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I have Real Player installed on my computer. I followed the suggestion and disabled the video download ability in Real Player and YouTube now works.

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Thanks but its not working either, I even uninstalled real player and it is still not working.

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Try using youtube html5. If it still does not work then it is not a problem with flash. http://www.youtube.com/html5

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Thanks but it's also not working, it doesn't even load, the loading circle is not rotating and it's just black. Usually when I do not use the html5 it loads for a few seconds then it says "an error occured. Please try again later" , then still black screen and no video. I also think (probably) it has nothing to do with flash since I can see videos and flash games from other site, but really, what is wrong actually?

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I honestly don't know but because no one else is answering I will throw around a few more ideas.

You can try http://www.youtube.com/feather_beta Maybe check to see if all your software is up to date that is used to run youtube. (java maybe?)

Also I noticed you were wondering if it was your connection, I kind of doubt that is the problem otherwise everything would be super slow. Either way you can check that at www.speedtest.net

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Thank you very much,

I tried it too, still not working and then I opt out of it and just randomly click on this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZMBG4Pn3Sg&feature=relmfu

(I still keep it open right now) and it works, the video plays, but only that one. Other videos still won't play.

EDIT: It stopped and showed the same "error please try again later" after 48 seconds. Other videos still won't play.

I tried to reinstall codecs and uninstall-reinstall download manager in my laptop (checked youtube without download manager, checked youtube with latest version of download manager), still, only that one video plays!

This is just so weird. When I googled about the same problem, I found most people are having this kind of problem back in firefox 3 and 4. And yeah, it's not about the connection, I just tested it and it all works fine, high speed and low ping.

Modified by Redcoolerfan

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Chosen Solution

That's very strange... this will also be a very long shot but it's possible that because of the long url (&feature=relmfu) it worked. I highly doubt that is the case.

I do recommend deleting your cookies, either all of them or any of them from youtube.

And you probably already tried this, but playing the video on quality different settings might do something.

And last of all, did you try to contact youtube/google about this issue, or restart your pc after making sure all of your stuff are up to date? (you probably did both)

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Thank you very much! It works fine now!

It was all the cookies afterall! My bad, I never thought it was the cookies, next time this happen I'll definitely check the cookies first.

Although it still feels weird, last time I uninstalled firefox I did a clean install which meant there are no cookies. Well it's already solved anyway.

I really thank you for helping me Uric! :D

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No problem, glad I could help :)

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Having the same problem. Tried all the same things, uninstalled, reinstalled, downgraded both FF and flash, and now also the cookies and all other history. Still no tube. Works fine in IE tho'. Turned off avast, comodo & win-firewall.

Installed Qtime, because that works on another PC, so that is now listed under applications for video-files - had vlc before. Removed everything Realtime. Didn't try the html5.

What next?

Modified by uHu

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Did you try both Youtube feather and html5? (also if you did everything I already mentioned then I don't think I can be of any help.)

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OK - tried Feather - no change. Tried html5 - that Worked!

What does that mean?

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Well, probably a problem with flash. Either with the browser or your computer.

If other flash things work then it's not really a big deal as long as you keep it on html5.

Glad it worked :)

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Oh - and you should probably turn your firewalls back on if you haven't yet. :P

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IF you have problems on YouTube BUT other FlashPLayer videos play please ignore this.

There are known issues with Flash 11.3 used on Firefox Windows above XP. Developers from Flash and Firefox have been working on this for several days, but advice from staff has dried up at the moment.

Try using Adobe's Uninstaller to remove Flash 11.3 then install FlashPlayer 10.3 or 11.2. Full instructions are in flash11.3 crashes flash 11.3 crashes

Modified by John99

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Ok. I'll call it a solution for now, the html5-thingy. Tried moving back to flash 10.3, but it wasn't available anymore. Let's just hope that my friend, who owns the problem, will remember to go to www.youtube.com/html5 and click 'join' if it fails again. She'll be reading this, so probably OK. :-)

Thanks a bundle.

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Sorry I did not put in a correct link,

Please always read the document as it will hopefully be updated when Firefox staff have a better solution. The currently recommended link for the Flash10.3 installer is

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If you get a message on Youtube that says " an error has occured - try again later" Follow these steps: 1) Disable all RealPlayer Plugins or Extensions on FireFox then close Firefox. 2) Open RealPlayer and click on the RealPlayer icon at the top left. 3) Click Preferences 4) In the Category panel click Download and Recording. 5) Uncheck (remove Check Mark) from Web Download and Recording and click OK. 6) Start Firefox and try to play videos.

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If solutions and links already posted do not help you are best starting your own thread using the link

Note the situation is likely to change, it is worth revisiting links to check for revisions and updates. Those with RealPlayer note a new Release was made a few days ago, but it is currently blocklisted by Firefox so it will be disabled (Soft block, if you read the warning you may use it, but then do not be surprised if there are FlashPlayer and YouTube problems.)

One workaround is that YouTube offer the option of using HTML5 instead of FlashPlayer to watch the videos.

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This is amazing. I didn't believe that this would work because I couldn't possibly see the connection between disabling the RealPlayer Download function and having the youtube videos play. But it worked. Thanks so much! I appreciate it. :)

Blessings, socc23fan :)

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