Can I play video in Firefox without Microsoft Media Feature Pack?
I am using Windows 10 Enterprise LTSB. I am unable to play any embedded video using Firefox and, it keeps prompting me to install the MS Media Feature Pack. This is something I am unwilling to do. Is it possible to view video without this? I have installed VLC but, that doesn't fix the issue.
Isisombululo esikhethiwe
Firefox does not have its own MPEG decoder. Firefox's built-in HTML5 player can play media encoded in other formats, such as WebM (on YouTube) and OGG (on some sites). Firefox can play media in Flash-based players if you install the Flash plugin (https://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/otherversions/).
But many sites do not offer alternative formats or make their media available to download, so on those sites, Firefox can't play the media without the system-level media libraries. (Fix video and audio problems on Firefox for Windows N editions)
Flash is now the only plugin Firefox runs, so the VLC plugin is no longer going to help (see: Why do Java, Silverlight, Adobe Acrobat and other plugins no longer work?).
The stand-alone VLC player can accept a URL and retrieve media directly, but sites may not easily give up such a URL for fear of copying. Probably the VLC forums would be a good place to find tips on that approach.
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Isisombululo Esikhethiwe
Firefox does not have its own MPEG decoder. Firefox's built-in HTML5 player can play media encoded in other formats, such as WebM (on YouTube) and OGG (on some sites). Firefox can play media in Flash-based players if you install the Flash plugin (https://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/otherversions/).
But many sites do not offer alternative formats or make their media available to download, so on those sites, Firefox can't play the media without the system-level media libraries. (Fix video and audio problems on Firefox for Windows N editions)
Flash is now the only plugin Firefox runs, so the VLC plugin is no longer going to help (see: Why do Java, Silverlight, Adobe Acrobat and other plugins no longer work?).
The stand-alone VLC player can accept a URL and retrieve media directly, but sites may not easily give up such a URL for fear of copying. Probably the VLC forums would be a good place to find tips on that approach.
You may be able to play some streaming sites with help of say Streamlink in a external player like VLC or MPV.
https://github.com/streamlink/streamlink https://streamlink.github.io/cli.html
For Twitch to make it easier I suggest using https://github.com/streamlink/streamlink-twitch-gui
A idea of what you can only play with HTML5 player (without the media feature stuff) is at https://www.youtube.com/html5/
Okulungisiwe ngu James
Thanks both, for the answers. It is a shame Firefox cannot do this, I guess I will need to look at another browser. I am trying to steer clear of Chrome and IE.
Why are you unwilling to install the media feature pack (if you have a N or KN edition of Windows) which is not just used for HTML5 player in Firefox/SeaMonkey but for other media related things on Windows.
James said
Why are you unwilling to install the media feature pack (if you have a N or KN edition of Windows) which is not just used for HTML5 player in Firefox/SeaMonkey but for other media related things on Windows.
I don't like how things are integrated into Windows 10. I don't use and, have no need for any of them, especially things like the Microsoft Store, Cortana, Groove Music and all of the other things linked into Windows 10.
LTSB strips out almost all features that I dislike about Windows 10, putting the media pack on simply brings all of that back. There doesn't seem to be a granular approach.