This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Avatar for Username

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

This thread was archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

Firefox doesn't ask what to do with MP3 or video files

  • 6 replies
  • 46 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by Ander

EricMc
EricMc
more options

Ever since I upgraded to Firefox 21, Firefox stopped asking me what to do with MP3 or video files. The default action now is to play them in Firefox. I've previously set Firefox to ask what to do with these files. When I go to Applications settings, the setting I made is still there but gets ignored.

I know that I could set media.windows-media-foundation.enabled to false to disable playback for these type of files completely. That's not what I want. I want to be able to play these files in HTML5 audio and video tags.

Ever since I upgraded to Firefox 21, Firefox stopped asking me what to do with MP3 or video files. The default action now is to play them in Firefox. I've previously set Firefox to ask what to do with these files. When I go to Applications settings, the setting I made is still there but gets ignored. I know that I could set media.windows-media-foundation.enabled to false to disable playback for these type of files completely. That's not what I want. I want to be able to play these files in HTML5 audio and video tags.

All Replies (6)

philipp
philipp
  • Moderator
more options

hello, there seems to be an open bug report for this issue but it hasn't seen much attention yet: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=861090

EricMc
EricMc Question owner
more options

Thank you for the link! I've voted for the bug.

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
more options

Can't you right-click the link and use "Save Link as"?

You can also set the browser.altClickSave pref to true on the about:config page.

Then you can hold down the alt key and left-click a link to get an open with dialog.

EricMc
EricMc Question owner
more options

"Save Link as" is the workaround I'm trying to get used to for saving. Always ask still had some benefits for me (DownThemAll integration, "Open with").

With browser.altClickSave set to true, Firefox downloads the file for me (no open with dialog).

Thank you for answering. I guess I'll turn off the playback for now and wait for a fix.

mojomonkey
mojomonkey
more options

I had the same problem. You can disable "windows media foundation"

about:config ------media.windows-media-foundation.enabled = false

-set to 'false'

Now 'mime type' set to 'always ask' works for me.

Modified by mojomonkey

Ander
Ander
more options

Thanks! Changing that setting's value to "false" fixed it for me—now FF asks me what to do with MP3 files, rather than automatically playing them in the browser.