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Videos and audio in Youtube/Netflix/etc slow down often.

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I've been getting random slow downs when I'm watching a video, either in Youtube or Netflix. The video will drop to about ~5 frames a second, and the sound stretches out and distorts. It usually goes back to normal after a few seconds, but on rare occasions, it keeps going on until I pause the video, or close the tab. I've asked a friend about it, and he told me to disable hardware acceleration, which helped a bit, but the problem is still happening. I'm using Firefox 22.0, if that helps.

I've been getting random slow downs when I'm watching a video, either in Youtube or Netflix. The video will drop to about ~5 frames a second, and the sound stretches out and distorts. It usually goes back to normal after a few seconds, but on rare occasions, it keeps going on until I pause the video, or close the tab. I've asked a friend about it, and he told me to disable hardware acceleration, which helped a bit, but the problem is still happening. I'm using Firefox 22.0, if that helps.

All Replies (6)

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Hello,

Try disabling graphics hardware acceleration. Since this feature was added to Firefox, it has gradually improved, but there still are a few glitches.

You might need to restart Firefox in order for this to take effect, so save all work first (e.g., mail you are composing, online documents you're editing, etc.).

Then perform these steps:

  • Click the orange Firefox button at the top left, then select the "Options" button, or, if there is no Firefox button at the top, go to Tools > Options.
  • In the Firefox options window click the Advanced tab, then select "General".
  • In the settings list, you should find the Use hardware acceleration when available checkbox. Uncheck this checkbox.
  • Now, restart Firefox and see if the problems persist.

Additionally, please check for updates for your graphics driver by following the steps mentioned in the following Knowledge base articles:

Did this fix your problems? Please report back to us!

Thank you.

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I already said that I've done that, and I did again, and restarted my browser just in case. Nothing has changed, and I'm still getting the same problem.

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Try Firefox Safe Mode to see if the problem goes away. Safe Mode is a troubleshooting mode, which disables most add-ons.

(If you're not using it, switch to the Default theme.)

  • You can open Firefox 4.0+ in Safe Mode by holding the Shift key when you open the Firefox desktop or Start menu shortcut.
  • Or open the Help menu and click on the Restart with Add-ons Disabled... menu item while Firefox is running.

Once you get the pop-up, just select "'Start in Safe Mode"

If the issue is not present in Firefox Safe Mode, your problem is probably caused by an extension, and you need to figure out which one. Please follow the Troubleshoot extensions, themes and hardware acceleration issues to solve common Firefox problems article for that.

To exit the Firefox Safe Mode, just close Firefox and wait a few seconds before opening Firefox for normal use again.

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I'm not sure what caused it, but it seems to have gone away after uninstalling/reinstalling Firefox, and restarting my computer. Thanks anyways.

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Which security software (firewall, anti-virus) do you have?

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Avast and MalwareBytes.