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How can I play mp4 videos in external player?

  • 2 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 335 views
  • Last reply by Jayhawk

Jayhawk
Jayhawk
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In customization I added AVI to the list to make that file type open in VLC video player. The process was when I downloaded an AVI file it popped up a dialog which offered me an "always do this" option that put the file type into that list.

I am trying to do something similar for MP3 and MP4, but am not able to prevent them from opening and running in Firefox. If I left click, the video downloads and runs. If I right click, there is no "download" option on the menu. In the customization page there is no way to add file types to the list, as the search box above the list appears to be nonfunctional.

There was an article from some years ago to change the "media.windows-media-foundation" in "about:config" from true to false, but that configuration does not appear to exist in my Firefox version (69.0.3 64 bit).

So, the question: how can I get MP4 videos to play in an external player?

In customization I added AVI to the list to make that file type open in VLC video player. The process was when I downloaded an AVI file it popped up a dialog which offered me an "always do this" option that put the file type into that list. I am trying to do something similar for MP3 and MP4, but am not able to prevent them from opening and running in Firefox. If I left click, the video downloads and runs. If I right click, there is no "download" option on the menu. In the customization page there is no way to add file types to the list, as the search box above the list appears to be nonfunctional. There was an article from some years ago to change the "media.windows-media-foundation" in "about:config" from true to false, but that configuration does not appear to exist in my Firefox version (69.0.3 64 bit). So, the question: how can I get MP4 videos to play in an external player?

Chosen solution

You can set this pref to false on the about:config page to prevent Firefox from playing media files via the HTML5 media player.

  • media.play-stand-alone = false

You can open the about:config page via the location/address bar. You can accept the warning and click "I accept the risk!" to continue.

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All Replies (2)

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
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Chosen Solution

You can set this pref to false on the about:config page to prevent Firefox from playing media files via the HTML5 media player.

  • media.play-stand-alone = false

You can open the about:config page via the location/address bar. You can accept the warning and click "I accept the risk!" to continue.

Jayhawk
Jayhawk Question owner
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Great. That did the trick. Thank you.