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Context

While playing YouTube videos in Firefox, intermittent crackling appears after a few minutes of playback. This report documents detailed testing that demonstrates the issue is not related to the DAC, USB interface, or system hardware, and is exclusive to Firefox.

2. System Configuration

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X @ 43 °C

RAM: 64 GB DDR4 dual-channel (16-20-20-38 @ 1572 MHz)

Motherboard: ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming 4 (AM4) @ 54 °C

GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 (audio drivers disabled, audio hardware off)

Monitors: LG HDR WFHD 2560x1080@60Hz and IPS236 1920x1080@60Hz

Storage: Multiple SSD and HDD SATA drives (500 GB – 2 TB)

Audio: Realtek High Definition Audio disabled; iFi nano/UNO DAC connected via USB with power filtering, using Exclusive Mode / ASIO

3. Tests Performed 3.1 DAC and USB Validation

Continuous playback of PCM 384 kHz/24‑bit and DSD256 via Roon/ASIO.

Duration: over 25 minutes of uninterrupted DSD256 playback.

Result: no crackling, pops, or errors.

Conclusion: DAC, firmware, USB cables, ports, and power supply are fully operational; heavy data load does not cause errors.

3.2 Browser Comparison

Chrome (YouTube, identical conditions): continuous playback without crackling.

Firefox (YouTube, identical conditions): crackling progressively appears minutes into playback, temporarily disappearing when the video is paused.

3.3 Isolation of Variables

USB motherboard ports and original drivers fully tested.

GPU audio drivers and hardware disabled.

Windows Shared Mode off, Exclusive Mode enabled.

Predefined audio formats set according to DAC preferences.

USB power management disabled.

DAC temperature stable; no overheating observed.

4. Technical Conclusion

Hardware: DAC, USB, cables, power, firmware, and GPU are not the cause of the crackling.

Operating System: Windows 11 is correctly configured; Exclusive Mode / ASIO works without errors.

Browser: Firefox is the only element consistently reproducing the issue.

Most Likely Cause: Firefox’s buffer management and audio sandboxing interacting with Windows, causing intermittent interruptions in audio flow.

Summary: All hardware and OS factors have been tested and validated: DAC, USB, cables, power supply, firmware, GPU, and temperature do not produce crackling. The only consistent factor is Firefox, making this a software-bound issue.

Engineering Note: This diagnosis conclusively demonstrates that the intermittent audio crackling on YouTube is caused exclusively by Firefox on Windows 11, independent of DAC or USB hardware. The issue should be investigated at the browser level, specifically how Firefox handles continuous digital audio streams and buffers on Windows.

I'm on a Mac using Mac OS Big Sur, 11.7.10.

Videos will not play on Firefox, whether on Youtube, in social media, on websites, or whatever. Sometimes the video will play with no audio, sometimes I just getting a rolling wheel.

I have other functionality issues that may be related.

I don't want to close and restart all the time. I am considering changing to a new default browser over the issue.

If I switch to Chrome or Safari, the videos play fine. Which seems like my answer.

Firefox on android gets stuck in landscape mode after playing a video on YouTube. Usually this happens after exiting fullscreen but can also happen when switching to another app and back to firefox. Going in and out of fullscreen again usually fixes it, but you can't do that on shorts and it's very annoying. I tried to use a fix posted 7 years ago of going to about:config (which I had to go to separate settings and enable to even get there) and toggling media.videocontrols.lock-video-orientation, but that setting doesn't appear to exist anymore. Is there anything I can do to fix this?

While taking my old ipad 2 out of the drawer to watch youtube video it kept crashing while using chrome and opera. Finally, decided to use Firefox and youtube is running great! I know the old saying "If it ain't broke don't fix it" but couldn't help to resist asking if there is any settings in firefox to optimize watching youtube videos on old iOS devices.

I am watching videos on you tube and is changing the original language from english to spanish with out me asking and the same goes for the CC subtitles, it keeps on changing the english original to spanish and vice versa and is really annoying, I have no idea if the problem is with Firefox or with Google Youtube!!

When I play a video with the web player in Firefox that has AC3 audio, I get no sound.

Doing some research it looks like AC3 used to be patented so I assume that is why it isn't included in Firefox but since March 20, 2017 the patent for AC3 has expired so I'd think it's now OK to include in Firefox.

The same video works in Edge and Chrome.

i have no sound in firefox ,while other applications and edge or chrome give me normal sound.It ia no muted ,checked the volume mixer everything should be working but no sound

Just updated to 144.0.2 (aarch64) on my MacMB Pro running Sequoia 15.7.1 with no other changes and now I can't play any YouTube videos, whether embedded in a website or YT directly. Get eithger a black screen or white, such as below. What arcane setting do I have to mess with now to get this back to normal? (OK in Safari.)

Started this afternoon, December 27. When viewing Facebook videos, the audio is not working. This is a random event, sometimes the audio will not start with the video, sometimes the video is good, but when the video ends and restarts, the audio doesn't come on. The volume indicator at the top of the Facebook video shows that the audio is on, but there is no sound. Is this a Firefox issue or a Facebook problem?

I've been having an odd issue with my cursor for a few weeks, even after updating to the currently most recent version (146.0.1) running on MacOS Sonoma. After I play a video, on YouTube or a streaming service like HBOMax, the video information bar at the bottom of the screen disappears. Previously, the cursor would disappear with it. Now it doesn't. Once the video bar disappears, I have to move the non-disappeared cursor once again, which brings back the video bar, and the cursor then disappears with the video bar on the second effort.

It's a minor issue, but is quite annoying, particularly considering this did not used to be the case over the last 10+ years of my Firefox usage. I'm hoping someone has fix, and if not, dev team can take note of this to be addressed in future versions.

Shadowplay is essentially constantly recording my screen and is automatically turned off when DRM content, in my case Netflix is opened through Firefox. Closing Netflix, however still doesn't let me turn it on and will only work if I have closed and reopened Firefox.