High CPU usage when playing HTML5 Videos on 2015 MacBook Pro
Hey,
I wanted to switch from Chrome to Firefox but one thing still stops me to do so. Everytime I try to watch a video on Youtube, Netflix or basically anywhere else Firefox starts to consume a lot of the CPU and the fans of my MacBook are starting to spin like crazy. This is happening with a fresh installation of Firefox as well so it should not be the problem of a plugin.
My MacBook Pro is from early 2015 has an 2,7 GHz Intel Core i5 and 8 GB of RAM. Currently I am running macOS Mojave but that was also a problem on Sierra and High Sierra.
This is definitely a problem of Firefox as both Chrome and Safari have no problems with displaying videos. I was thinking that this could be a problem with hardware acceleration but turning it off or on doesn't have any effect at all. Unfortunately I don't know a way how to check if Firefox is using hardware acceleration or not.
I would appreciate any help so I can switch as soon as possible.
Modified by k15a
All Replies (5)
Sounds more like a corrupted Browser that is leading to the problem. Did you uninstall all FF and deleting the Mozilla folder before installing a newer FF version?
Yes tried it again right now and the problem still exists.
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
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 and select Options (Windows) or Preferences (Mac, Linux).
- Select the General panel.
- Under Performance, uncheck Use recommended performance settings. Additional settings will be displayed.
- 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:
I've tried that already and tried it one more time but seems that Firefox consumes less CPU when hardware acceleration is disabled. Still takes more than Chrome but works for the moment.
disable Firefox Accessibility Service: