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.

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

Firefox don't play youtube videos

more options

When I select a youtube video a white screen appears and a black empty window.

When I select a youtube video a white screen appears and a black empty window.

Chosen solution

jscher2000 said

Thank you for sharing your list of extensions. Could you disable or remove this one: YouTube™ Flash® Player Other users have reported that YouTube has completely removed Flash player support so extensions that force Flash on YouTube may cause you to have nonfunctional pages. If you get a new message that none of the formats can be played, please see this article: Fix video and audio problems on Firefox for Windows N editions.

Also, if a site is generally known to work in Firefox, these are general suggestions to try when it stops working correctly:

Cache and Cookies: When you have a problem with one particular site, a good "first thing to try" is clearing your Firefox cache and deleting your saved cookies for the site.

(1) Clear Firefox's Cache

See: How to clear the Firefox cache

If you have a large hard drive, this might take a few minutes. If you do not see the number going down on the page, you can reload it using Ctrl+r to check progress.

(2) Remove the site's cookies (save any pending work first). While viewing a page on the site, try either:

  • right-click (on Mac Ctrl+click) a blank area of the page and choose View Page Info > Security > "View Cookies"
  • (menu bar) Tools > Page Info > Security > "View Cookies"
  • click the padlock or "i" icon in the address bar, then the ">" button, then More Information, and finally the "View Cookies" button

In the dialog that opens, the current site should be pre-filled in the search box at the top of the dialog so you can remove that site's cookies individually.

Then try reloading the page. Does that help?

I just started answering questions today, without your reply I would have had no idea that you could see all of that information in that little details page. Thanks!

Read this answer in context 👍 0

All Replies (12)

more options

eboido said

When I select a youtube video a white screen appears and a black empty window. I have windows 10 and I have no problems watching it with Edge. I do not want to quit using Mozilla. Thanks to everybody in anticipation.

Modified by eboido

more options

What version of Firefox are you using? When you right click in the black empty area (where the video SHOULD be), do you see any information about the plugin, or perhaps a message saying that an update to the player plugin is required?

more options

Thank you for sharing your list of extensions. Could you disable or remove this one:

YouTube™ Flash® Player

Other users have reported that YouTube has completely removed Flash player support so extensions that force Flash on YouTube may cause you to have nonfunctional pages.

If you get a new message that none of the formats can be played, please see this article: Fix video and audio problems on Firefox for Windows N editions.


Also, if a site is generally known to work in Firefox, these are general suggestions to try when it stops working correctly:

Cache and Cookies: When you have a problem with one particular site, a good "first thing to try" is clearing your Firefox cache and deleting your saved cookies for the site.

(1) Clear Firefox's Cache

See: How to clear the Firefox cache

If you have a large hard drive, this might take a few minutes. If you do not see the number going down on the page, you can reload it using Ctrl+r to check progress.

(2) Remove the site's cookies (save any pending work first). While viewing a page on the site, try either:

  • right-click (on Mac Ctrl+click) a blank area of the page and choose View Page Info > Security > "View Cookies"
  • (menu bar) Tools > Page Info > Security > "View Cookies"
  • click the padlock or "i" icon in the address bar, then the ">" button, then More Information, and finally the "View Cookies" button

In the dialog that opens, the current site should be pre-filled in the search box at the top of the dialog so you can remove that site's cookies individually.

Then try reloading the page. Does that help?

more options

Chosen Solution

jscher2000 said

Thank you for sharing your list of extensions. Could you disable or remove this one: YouTube™ Flash® Player Other users have reported that YouTube has completely removed Flash player support so extensions that force Flash on YouTube may cause you to have nonfunctional pages. If you get a new message that none of the formats can be played, please see this article: Fix video and audio problems on Firefox for Windows N editions.

Also, if a site is generally known to work in Firefox, these are general suggestions to try when it stops working correctly:

Cache and Cookies: When you have a problem with one particular site, a good "first thing to try" is clearing your Firefox cache and deleting your saved cookies for the site.

(1) Clear Firefox's Cache

See: How to clear the Firefox cache

If you have a large hard drive, this might take a few minutes. If you do not see the number going down on the page, you can reload it using Ctrl+r to check progress.

(2) Remove the site's cookies (save any pending work first). While viewing a page on the site, try either:

  • right-click (on Mac Ctrl+click) a blank area of the page and choose View Page Info > Security > "View Cookies"
  • (menu bar) Tools > Page Info > Security > "View Cookies"
  • click the padlock or "i" icon in the address bar, then the ">" button, then More Information, and finally the "View Cookies" button

In the dialog that opens, the current site should be pre-filled in the search box at the top of the dialog so you can remove that site's cookies individually.

Then try reloading the page. Does that help?

I just started answering questions today, without your reply I would have had no idea that you could see all of that information in that little details page. Thanks!

more options

aeaeaeae said

I just started answering questions today, without your reply I would have had no idea that you could see all of that information in that little details page.

You won't see it every time, only if the person posting the question clicked the "Share Data" button. It sure would be easier if it were always there.

more options

eboido said

When I select a youtube video a white screen appears and a black empty window.
more options

Thank you very much; removing Youtube flash Player solved the problem. Great Help!! I really want to keep working with Mozilla.

more options

Glad you got it functional again, jscher2000 really hit the nail on the head with that advice. I just have one tiny bit of advice for the future, eboido. Your second-to-last post/reply is just a copy/paste of the first sentence from your original question's post. I don't know if you did that on purpose as an answer my post's questions, or if it was supposed to be a longer post that was accidentally cut off by hitting "post reply" early by mistake, or something else.. I don't know what it was. But, if it was your answer to my question, you probably want to break the habit of doing that. Repeating your original post word-for-word doesn't answer any questions people may have asked you or offer any new information, and since you had already posted it once before, it sort of looks like you don't trust the person helping you to have read your original post completely.

Most of the time, that will probably just make the person who is replying to you ask the same thing(s) a second time, which is a waste of everyone's time. But, if it was someone other than me, and they thought you copy/pasted to be disrespectful, either they'll repeat their question word-for-word the same way you did, or they just won't try to help anymore. So, you should probably break the habit of copy/pasting your original posts completely.

In the future, make sure you read every word of the person's post who is trying to help you, and if they're asking for new information, do your best to provide it. Avoid copy/pasting at all costs!

more options

Sorry, not very familiar with something that for you is So Easy. Thanks and sorry again. Normally I look not to have problems with anything and of course not to create problems for others. You look like a good teacher I hope I'm able to learn.

more options

No problem at all, my friend. And thank you for saying I seem like a good teacher! I appreciate that, I just started doing this today. I hope I can help more people. Just remember, in every forum, chat, email or instant message you are ever in, unless someone explicitly asks you to copy/paste a message you already sent, you never want to copy/paste a message you already sent. 99% of the time, it will only cause confusion. Catch you later, good luck!

more options

I get an error message in the black window for every YouTube video now saying "Your browser does not currently recognize any of the video formats available. Click here to visit our frequently asked questions about HTML5 video." I don't know what the problem is, since YouTube worked fine with Firefox for Mac, my browser, in the past and is fine with Chrome as someone else mentions here. I have the current 55.0.3 version, so what's wrong here?

more options

Hi tjphoto40, do you have "blue" checkmark boxes for all the formats listed on YouTube's test page:

https://www.youtube.com/html5

Do you have any extensions that possibly modify how video plays, either by changing the play or intercepting/recording/downloading it? You can check on the Add-ons page. Either:

  • Command+Shift+a (Windows: Ctrl+Shift+a)
  • "3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Add-ons
  • type or paste about:addons in the address bar and press Enter/Return

In the left column of the Add-ons page, click Extensions. Then cast a critical eye over the list on the right side. Any extensions that Firefox installs on its own are hidden from this page, so everything listed here is your choice (and your responsibility) to manage. Anything that might possibly affect video? If in doubt, disable.

Often a link will appear above at least one disabled extension to restart Firefox before the change takes effect. You can complete your work on the tab and click one of the links as the last step.

Any improvement?