You can play some types of sound and video files on web pages without a plugin. This article explains which formats can play and how to control, save, and open them.

Supported formats

Because the use of many audio and video file types is restricted by patents, a third-party application mainly a plugin (such as Flash) is required to use them. However, Firefox is able to play natively open media and some kinds of patented media.

Open media

Vorbis audio, Theora video (developed by the Xiph.Org Foundation), Opus Audio (developed by Mozilla and Microsoft and standardized by the Internet Engineering Task Force as RFC 6716), and VP8 video (sponsored by Google) are free audio/video compression formats for use without patent restrictions, and can be viewed in Firefox without a plugin.

Ogg (.oga, ogv,.ogx file types) and WebM (.webm file type) are container formats for open media.

Audio and video controls

Control bar

When you visit a website that includes a supported media file, you will see controls for managing playback when you hold the mouse pointer over the media on the page.

• Play button: Starts playback.
• Pause button: Stops playback once it has started.
• Position slider: Indicates how much time has elapsed since the beginning of the file. Drag the slider left or right to go back or forward.
• Volume control: Click to mute or unmute. Hover and drag the slider up or down to adjust the volume.

  

• Fullscreen button: Toggles fullscreen when in default size.
• Default size button: Restores the default size when in fullscreen.

Context menu controls

The context menu (accessible via right-clickCtrl-click) contains the above controls except the position slider and also allows you to:

• Show or hide statistics (only video): Select Show Statistics to display video statistics such as the file name, resolution, volume, sample rate and frame number. To hide them, select Hide Statistics.
• Hide controls: Select Hide Controls so that the bottom control bar never show up. To show them, select Show Controls.

Keyboard controls

After you click on an audio or video file on a web page, you may control the playback with your keyboard.

Saving media files

To save an audio file from a web page to your computer:

1. Right-clickHold down the control key while you click on the audio controls and select Save Audio As….
2. Select a location on your computer to save the file.

To save a video file from a web page to your computer:

1. Right-clickHold down the control key while you click on the video controls and select Save Video As….
   • Select Save Snapshot As… if you only want to save the video snapshot.
2. Select a location on your computer to save the file.

Opening saved files

The media files you save from web pages may not play in your normal media player. To open these types of files:

1. Open Firefox.
2. Click Ctrl + Ocommand + O.
3. Navigate to the folder that contains the file you want to play and click Open.

Troubleshooting

If you are having problems with audio or video files, see:

• Fix common audio and video issues
• What to do if Firefox won't play any sounds