Youtube video playback not working on FF v39
Hi.
I am a PM on the Amazon WorkSpaces team, and we are noticing that the latest upgrade to FF 39 (after flash was blocked) is causing Youtube videos not to play. If we visit https://www.youtube.com/html5, the site states that the browser does NOT support MSE & WebM VP9 Youtube, while we didn't get this warning on FF 37.
The only way we have been able to work around this issue is to set media.mediasource.webm to true in FF (about:config). However upon further research on, it seems that FF doesn't support MSE for VP9 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1173179
Is the above setting safe to set for all future versions of FF? Is there an official fix to this problem since flash is no longer supported in FF? Would really appreciate if we can resolve this issue, or have line of sight on when this could be resolved
Thanks Salman P.
All Replies (14)
I think five out of six blue checkmarks is normal on Windows 7; you are correct that the sixth item (MSE & WebM VP9) is not supported, but I don't think that is a new issue on Firefox 39.
The YouTube HTML5 player should work fine with the media.mediasource.* preferences set to their default values. What error message are you getting, or what wrong behavior are you getting with media.mediasource.webm set to false?
Does the problem behavior occur when you visit the site directly, or in embedded videos, or both?
Regarding Flash, Mozilla had "soft-blocked" version 18.0.0.203 and earlier, which still allowed you to activate Flash on sites you trust by activating the plugin manually. With Adobe's update to 18.0.0.209 last week, it is possible to return to automatic activation. However, YouTube still serves the HTML5 player by default; that is not something which is under Mozilla's control.
Thank for the quick reply. The user experience is that the Youtube page loads, the video is a black box and the loading spinner keeps on spinning. While I have not tested embedded videos, this issues is prevalent when I visit youtube.com
I am ok with not having Flash work, but HTML5 videos should load in high-def and play in a reasonable time. This is not currently happening with FF 39. If you wish we can provide you access to a WorkSpace and you can test drive the experience yourself.
Note, FF37 works fine with youtube.com. FF39 after an update breaks youtube.com
Hope this helps.
Do you know whether your Firefox can typically play MP4 video in the HTML5 video player? I think that is the default format delivered by YouTube currently, although I only have my own experience on that point.
Try the first video on this page: http://www.quirksmode.org/html5/tests/video.html
If that works, could you test YouTube in Firefox's Safe Mode? That's a standard diagnostic tool to deactivate extensions and some advanced features of Firefox. More info: Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode.
If Firefox is not running: Hold down the Shift key when starting Firefox.
If Firefox is running: You can restart Firefox in Safe Mode using either:
- "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Restart with Add-ons Disabled
- Help menu > Restart with Add-ons Disabled
and OK the restart.
Both scenarios: A small dialog should appear. Click "Start in Safe Mode" (not Refresh).
Any difference?
Try the first video on this page: http://www.quirksmode.org/html5/tests/video.html did not work. Please see the attached screenshot for more details.
Hmm, MP4 not supported. Could you check a couple settings:
(1) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter. Click the button promising to be careful.
(2) In the search box above the list, type or paste media and pause while the list is filtered
(3) {for Windows newer than XP} If the media.windows-media-foundation.enabled preference is bolded and user set to "false", double-click it to switch it to true
(4) {for Windows XP, or if Media Foundation does not work on newer versions} If the media.directshow.enabled preference is bolded and user set to "false", double-click it to switch it to true
If you changed these settings, does that help the MP4 play? I'm not sure whether the change(s) takes effect immediately or after you exit Firefox and start it up again.
Unfortunately, both of those settings have a status of default and set to true. Is there a codec that needs to be installed on the OS?
i genuinely feel you need to wait flash out. i went through this about 6 months ago. nothing i did helped until adobe got their stuff together.
Hi justinius23, YouTube isn't using Flash for most Firefox users any more. If you WANT to use Flash on YouTube, you need to force it with an extension such as:
Hi parachas, Media Foundation should be included with Windows 7 in most of the world. I'm not sure why MPEG decoding would stop working if it worked in previous versions of Firefox.
(In Europe, apparently due to the antitrust settlement, it is a separate download. https://support.microsoft.com/kb/968211)
If you switch off the media foundation preference so Firefox falls back to DirectShow, does that work?
That fixed the video playback issue. Thanks. However all videos are now defaulting to 360p (even if they support 720p HD format)
Would the fix suggest that we don't have the latest version of the Windows Media Foundation plugin/codec/install?
Thanks for your continued help
I just checked, and the version of windows media player installed is 12.0.7601.18741. This matches up with the version supported for Win 7 listed on Microsoft's website. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/190990
Seems something is wrong with Media Foundation but I would be in over my head advising on that. Maybe someone else has experience troubleshooting it.
same issue since update with XP now.
can't playback html5 video, forced to enable flash to view Youtube video.. works fin in Chrome and other browsers..
screenshot: http://snag.gy/iaQMd.jpg
help us hold-out XP users here.
Hi PPNSteve, Microsoft never released Media Foundation for XP. Let's continue that discussion in your new thread here: https://support.mozilla.org/questions/1074306