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Cannot save videos as MP4 format; Firefox changed - saves as Firefox HTML document (unreadable)

  • 5 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 4 views
  • Last reply by Nancy Whee

Nancy Whee
Nancy Whee
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I previously saved videos in MP4 format. Recent Firefox update screwed that up - now only saves as Firefox HTML document format, whatever that is. File errors. Cannot save videos. I did a system restore to before the last update, but it's still screwed up.

HOW CAN I SAVE VIDEOS (from Facebook for example) in MP4 format?? PLEASE HELP.

Thank you.

I previously saved videos in MP4 format. Recent Firefox update screwed that up - now only saves as Firefox HTML document format, whatever that is. File errors. Cannot save videos. I did a system restore to before the last update, but it's still screwed up. HOW CAN I SAVE VIDEOS (from Facebook for example) in MP4 format?? PLEASE HELP. Thank you.

All Replies (5)

cor-el
cor-el
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Can you download the video via the right-click context menu or are you using an extension ?

Did you check the content of this HTML document in a text editor or file viewing utility to see if it possibly contains an error page ?

Can you post a link to a publicly accessible page (i.e. no authentication or signing on required)?

Nancy Whee
Nancy Whee Question owner
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Thank you for your quick response. **I am asking this for a friend and am getting all details from him. We greatly appreciate your assistance.

He has downloaded videos on Facebook in the past by copying the video's Facebook URL to a new Firefox window, changing 'www' to 'mbasic'. From there, play the video, right-click on the video, select 'Save video' from the drop down menu. (The videos are public, not someone's private page.) This has always worked until recently. When he goes to the folder where the video was saved, there is a file with format 'Firefox HTML document' and a filename of cryptic letters only. The file size is 4kb. He has tried this with several videos, but keeps getting the error. Clicking on the file to open it gives an error that it cannot find an application to view it.

cor-el
cor-el
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It is likely that this is no longer supported by Facebook and possibly needs to be updated.

Did he inspect the file in a text editor for a possible error message ?

rwlh2100
rwlh2100
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The feature is still supported by Facebook. I tried it on Microsoft Edge and Chrome - entered the Facebook address while replace the "www" with "mbasic" and it works. I can download the file as a mp4 video. In fact the update is so screwed up that even my bookmark menu is all messed up. The earlier versions of Mozilla actually works better than the current one. Is there a way I can go back to the earlier versions - until Mozilla fixes this? If not, I will have to switch to Microsoft Edge or Chrome!

Nancy Whee
Nancy Whee Question owner
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TO cor-el - He opened the file in Notepad and it was XML code. Thank you.

TO rwlh2100 - Thank you for trying this yourself. Edge and Chrome are not options. I wonder if he can uninstall Firefox, and then download and install an older version that was working fine. Companies usually only allow downloading the current version, not n-1 versions. Suggestions? Thank you.


Also, I wish Firefox didn't acknowledge new members by sending email containing their location and IP address on an unencrypted network. Boo! Hiss!