Join the AMA (Ask Me Anything) with the Firefox leadership team to celebrate Firefox 20th anniversary and discuss Firefox’s future on Mozilla Connect. Mark your calendar on Thursday, November 14, 18:00 - 20:00 UTC!

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

All video besides youtube is not playing

  • 13 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 13 views
  • Last reply by James

more options

The only video that will play is youtube. All others, Fox News, Townhall, Amazon [on product page, not Prime video], etc, do not play. I have done all that is available in the help section, none of it worked. Error "invalid mime type" From CBS OS - Windows XP SP3 Firefox ESR 52.9.0 (32-bit)

The only video that will play is youtube. All others, Fox News, Townhall, Amazon [on product page, not Prime video], etc, do not play. I have done all that is available in the help section, none of it worked. Error "invalid mime type" From CBS OS - Windows XP SP3 Firefox ESR 52.9.0 (32-bit)

All Replies (13)

more options

Make sure you are not blocking content.

Start Firefox in Safe Mode {web link} by holding down the <Shift> (Mac=Options) key, and then starting Firefox.

A small dialog should appear. Click Start In Safe Mode (not Refresh). Is the problem still there?


One issue that seems more common lately is Firefox's Tracking Protection feature. When it is blocking content in a page, a shield icon will appear at the left end of the address bar next to the padlock icon. This article has more info on managing this feature: Tracking Protection {web link}

more options

If the videos is using a HTML5 player and not using the Flash Player Plugin then that can help explain why you cannot view some videos.

WinXP does not come with media feature packs that Microsoft provides to Windows Vista and Later. The packs have codecs needed in order for web browser like Firefox and SeaMonkey to fully using HTML5 players for video and audio.

This is for Windows Vista and later users but explains what I mean about the packs. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/fix-video-audio-problems-firefox-windows

You can see the limit of what you support at https://www.youtube.com/html5/ as you likely have two or three red check marks

With some work you may be able to support HTML5 players better in Firefox 52 ESR on WinXP. https://msfn.org/board/topic/175591-enable-mp4-h264-aac-html5-video-in-firefox-on-windows-xp-without-flash/

The only way you will be able to fully support HTML5 players and current Firefox versions is to use Windows 7 or later or dual boot with a light 32-bit Linux distro like Lubuntu or Xubuntu among others.

more options

FredMcD said

Make sure you are not blocking content. Start Firefox in Safe Mode {web link} by holding down the <Shift> (Mac=Options) key, and then starting Firefox. A small dialog should appear. Click Start In Safe Mode (not Refresh). Is the problem still there?

One issue that seems more common lately is Firefox's Tracking Protection feature. When it is blocking content in a page, a shield icon will appear at the left end of the address bar next to the padlock icon. This article has more info on managing this feature: Tracking Protection {web link}


I have already done this

more options

James said

If the videos is using a HTML5 player and not using the Flash Player Plugin then that can help explain why you cannot view some videos. WinXP does not come with media feature packs that Microsoft provides to Windows Vista and Later. The packs have codecs needed in order for web browser like Firefox and SeaMonkey to fully using HTML5 players for video and audio. This is for Windows Vista and later users but explains what I mean about the packs. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/fix-video-audio-problems-firefox-windows You can see the limit of what you support at https://www.youtube.com/html5/ as you likely have two or three red check marks With some work you may be able to support HTML5 players better in Firefox 52 ESR on WinXP. https://msfn.org/board/topic/175591-enable-mp4-h264-aac-html5-video-in-firefox-on-windows-xp-without-flash/ The only way you will be able to fully support HTML5 players and current Firefox versions is to use Windows 7 or later or dual boot with a light 32-bit Linux distro like Lubuntu or Xubuntu among others.

I had this working for some time. I did a bone head thing, emptied my windows temp folder which had Foxfire profile in it. I tried to restore it but video's went back to where they were as I stated originally. I can't remember what I did to get this to work. I am hoping someone can jog my memory

I have already looked at the link you posted, that is not what I did, nor did trying to gain anything. James said

If the videos is using a HTML5 player and not using the Flash Player Plugin then that can help explain why you cannot view some videos. WinXP does not come with media feature packs that Microsoft provides to Windows Vista and Later. The packs have codecs needed in order for web browser like Firefox and SeaMonkey to fully using HTML5 players for video and audio. This is for Windows Vista and later users but explains what I mean about the packs. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/fix-video-audio-problems-firefox-windows You can see the limit of what you support at https://www.youtube.com/html5/ as you likely have two or three red check marks With some work you may be able to support HTML5 players better in Firefox 52 ESR on WinXP. https://msfn.org/board/topic/175591-enable-mp4-h264-aac-html5-video-in-firefox-on-windows-xp-without-flash/ The only way you will be able to fully support HTML5 players and current Firefox versions is to use Windows 7 or later or dual boot with a light 32-bit Linux distro like Lubuntu or Xubuntu among others.
more options

BTW - I have read all of the links you posted already. the youtube link has theses checked H.264 MSE & H.264

HTML 5 is working via - HTML5 Player + - and - HTML5 Video Everywhere -.

more options

yagar said

HTML 5 is working via - HTML5 Player + - and - HTML5 Video Everywhere -.

You shouldn't need any add-ons for HTML5 video, the built-in player should handle it automatically.

How are you getting H.264 support on Windows XP? Are you doing that complicated workaround with the Adobe Primetime plugin?

Firefox never puts its valuable profile folder(s) into the Windows Temp folder. Something strange must have happened there.

more options

yagar said

BTW - I have read all of the links you posted already. the youtube link has theses checked H.264 MSE & H.264

https://www.youtube.com/html5/

All check marks on this html5 test page page should ideally be blue if you were using Windows Vista or later. WinXP can only have I think three or four checked blue at most. This is a downside of WinXP and not of Firefox 52.9.0esr.

Any Youtube video you could play may have been around for enough time to be encoded in a format you could play.

more options

I would have to disagree with you as I loaded Chrome this evening and the video's workjscher2000 said

yagar said
HTML 5 is working via - HTML5 Player + - and - HTML5 Video Everywhere -.

You shouldn't need any add-ons for HTML5 video, the built-in player should handle it automatically.

How are you getting H.264 support on Windows XP? Are you doing that complicated workaround with the Adobe Primetime plugin?

Firefox never puts its valuable profile folder(s) into the Windows Temp folder. Something strange must have happened there.

more options

H.264 MSE & H.264 are not working. They are red when I check the youtube page

more options

yagar said

I would have to disagree with you as I loaded Chrome this evening and the video's workjscher2000 said
yagar said
HTML 5 is working via - HTML5 Player + - and - HTML5 Video Everywhere -.

You shouldn't need any add-ons for HTML5 video, the built-in player should handle it automatically.

How are you getting H.264 support on Windows XP? Are you doing that complicated workaround with the Adobe Primetime plugin?

Firefox never puts its valuable profile folder(s) into the Windows Temp folder. Something strange must have happened there.

more options

I moved it to get it off the "C" Drive.

more options

yagar said

H.264 MSE & H.264 are not working. They are red when I check the youtube page

That's normal for Firefox on Windows XP. The only workaround I'm aware of it the one mentioned here:

James said

With some work you may be able to support HTML5 players better in Firefox 52 ESR on WinXP. https://msfn.org/board/topic/175591-enable-mp4-h264-aac-html5-video-in-firefox-on-windows-xp-without-flash/

Not for the faint of heart.

more options

yagar said

I would have to disagree with you as I loaded Chrome this evening and the video's work

Chrome I guess you could say cheats by coming with its own codecs. However Chromium, Chrome and Opera dropped support of the EOL WinXP and Vista back in April 2016.