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Some videos on YouTube will not play

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As of a few days ago some of the videos on YouTube will not play I tried IE(I stopped using after it ask for an update) ,but then I had to use google chome and I hate it, but the videos played. Its not every video, and some times it's the same video I just played not to long ago. I fear that soon I might not be able to view most videos on YouTube. I cleared my cache, made sure everything it up-to-date, although Silverlight-plugin will not update, no matter what I try to do( I hope that is not the reason, because Silverlight won't up-date.) I'm am not sure when this problem first arose, at first I though it was Google/YouTube having issues, but it seems like Google's browser works fine on the videos that do not play on Firefox. What can I do, I need Firefox to work, I can't bare to move to another browser.

As of a few days ago some of the videos on YouTube will not play I tried IE(I stopped using after it ask for an update) ,but then I had to use google chome and I hate it, but the videos played. Its not every video, and some times it's the same video I just played not to long ago. I fear that soon I might not be able to view most videos on YouTube. I cleared my cache, made sure everything it up-to-date, although Silverlight-plugin will not update, no matter what I try to do( I hope that is not the reason, because Silverlight won't up-date.) I'm am not sure when this problem first arose, at first I though it was Google/YouTube having issues, but it seems like Google's browser works fine on the videos that do not play on Firefox. What can I do, I need Firefox to work, I can't bare to move to another browser.

All Replies (2)

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Are you getting the "Try again later" message? Some other users are reporting this problem, too.

As far as I know, Youtube never uses Silverlight.

Have you tested 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.

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

Not all add-ons are disabled: Flash and other plugins still run

After Firefox shuts down, a small dialog should appear. Click "Start in Safe Mode" (not Reset).

Any difference?

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A few other thoughts:

(1) For a video where this happens, does the problem persist if you try reloading a few times using Ctrl+Shift+r?

(2) Is there any difference in how you connect to Youtube between your browsers? You can check Firefox's connection setting here:

"3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Options > Advanced > Network mini-tab > "Settings" button

The default is "Use system proxy settings" but you also could try "No proxy".

(3) Have you received any SSL-related errors, such as pages reporting a certificate problem and requiring you to make an exception, or missing styles or functionality on secure sites?

(4) If you opted in to the html5 player, is there a pattern of the problem videos being in one format or the other (HTML5 player vs. Flash player)? https://www.youtube.com/html5