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Youtube videos not loading in Firefox.

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  • 4 have this problem
  • 4 views
  • Last reply by bschmitz

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Firefox version 106.0.1 Windows 11pro. Youtube videos will not play, unless they are Live. Weird. Checked internet. Loads on phone, loads fine in Edge. Restarted FF, cleared cache and cookies, tried private browsing, started in troubleshoot mode with no addons-- even the ad video at the top won't play. What else am I missing? Why will the live videos play but not the others? That seems like a clue, but I've hit the end of my ideas. I was able to watch youtube two days ago, the only change (afaik) is a Firefox update this morning.

Firefox version 106.0.1 Windows 11pro. Youtube videos will not play, unless they are Live. Weird. Checked internet. Loads on phone, loads fine in Edge. Restarted FF, cleared cache and cookies, tried private browsing, started in troubleshoot mode with no addons-- even the ad video at the top won't play. What else am I missing? Why will the live videos play but not the others? That seems like a clue, but I've hit the end of my ideas. I was able to watch youtube two days ago, the only change (afaik) is a Firefox update this morning.

All Replies (12)

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Examples of the issue and links please. What security software are your running? What are you getting when you trying to play a video?

Works for me. see screenshot https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWrc6ihmaE0&list=PLwp14R2R0unXvOiy3vrEiLEhxu1GtfaSD&index=12

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Webroot secure anywhere.

Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWrc6ihmaE0&list=PLwp14R2R0unXvOiy3vrEiLEhxu1GtfaSD&index=12

image attached. Spinning white circle and message.

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I think I gave the wrong link above. Here are some more. Will Play: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYken9En-PQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oHlU9irmZU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAbQmK24qIU

Those were "Live" when I snagged the links and they WOULD play. Though, when I use troubleshoot mode of Firefox, the ad won't play but does eventually let me skip it, then the live video plays fine.

WON'T play: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biOqzOT5vnc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJ4GCXeSK1g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15RhQpLA6HU

the page for the video opens, the white circle starts spinning in the middle, and then it says "if playback doesn't begin shortly please restart your device" In troubleshoot mode, the ad won't play. It shows the thumbnail or the first image, youtube logo on top and the spinning circle behind it. After several seconds, "skip ad" appears, once skipped, the following video is a black screen that never plays the video.

(Yes one of these screenshots show youtube enhancer extension. I have tried it without my extensions multiple times, so it shouldn't be that.)

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I can not play YouTube videos in Firefox. It loads but then a white circle keeps going around forever. Since it is only since 3 days that they not play, I suspect it has to do with the latest update of Firefox. I did all the things that were recommended, emptied cookies and cache, UN-clicked "use hardware acceleration" and refreshed Firefox. Nothing helped, and the YouTube Videos still will not play in Firefox. They play correct in Chrome and Edge. Any help and ideas, will be appreciated with this issue. Thanks, Bert

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Any difference if you select a different quality using the wheel/gear button on the player control bar?

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Since this is probably an Firefox update issue, can somebody tell my how I can dial back this latest Firefox update? I should also take it off "Automatic Updates" .

Bert

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Hi Bert, did you try the experiment I mentioned?

There is an article on downgrading, but it's a bit of a pain: Install an older version of Firefox.

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Also, more generally:

I have a copy of the old YouTube HTML5 support page to check that your Firefox is reporting compatibility with various compression schemes used by YouTube: https://www.jeffersonscher.com/sumo/html5-video.html -- everything should say either supported or probably.

For Windows users with unbundled versions, you may need to add media components: Fix video and audio problems on Firefox for Windows N editions. Edit: Or re-enable it in Windows settings: https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/ygsxc1/youtube_and_twitchtv_video_loading_issue/

Modified by jscher2000 - Support Volunteer

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Hi jscher2000,

I changed the playback to lowest quality but videos still don't play. Also disabled Ad-block plus in Firefox, but that made no difference also. Still see only black screen, I see the bottom time bar moving in the video, and when I put my cursor on the time bar I can see the small image at what would be shown in the video at at point. But can not see it big. Wish that Firefox would look at this issue. Thanks for your help, Bert

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Hi Bert, are you also running Windows 11?

There is an older issue that users sometimes have with connecting to Google servers. Not sure whether it is related but you could try disabling the "zero round trip resumption" feature and see whether it helps:

(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button accepting the risk.

More info on about:config: Configuration Editor for Firefox. The moderators would like us to remind you that changes made through this back door aren't fully supported and aren't guaranteed to continue working in the future.

(2) In the search box in the page, type or paste security.tls.enable_0rtt_data and pause while the list is filtered

(3) Double-click the preference to switch the value from true to false

After that, try YouTube again in a new tab. Any improvement?

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Are there relevant-looking media messages in the Web Console ?

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Hi jscher2000, I fond a site that offers different solutions to try. I had done the most already and nothing seemed to work. But it also said to try Firefox in save mode and if that worked, (and YouTube did play correct), to eliminate the "Extensions" one by one to see if that worked. I did that took of the "Grammar and Spell Check" and "Google Translator" extensions. That did solve the problem, at least for now.

Thanks for trying to find a solution for my problem, I really appreciate that. Bert