Video on certain sites stops working after about an hour of Firefox usage
Hello,
For two firefox updates, I've been having an issue where after about an hour or two of using firefox (it varies), video players on most websites will stop working. Almost every website except for Youtube's videoplayer stops working after an hour, all at once. Restarting firefox fixes it, but it's very annoying to restart firefox every couple of hours, and seems like a problem.
The following things didn't fix it: clearing my cache, disabling my addons one by one, turning off hardware acceleration, trying to watch the video in a private window, or reinstalling firefox. I don't know what's left to try. It has nothing to do with my audio devices.
Please advise, thank you!
Chosen solution
Those animated GIFs on Twitter and other websites are likely not GIF images, but are short MP4 files that are played with the HTML5 media player.
Start Firefox in Troubleshoot Mode to check if one of the extensions ("3-bar" menu button or Tools -> Add-ons -> Extensions) or if hardware acceleration or userChrome.css is causing the problem.
- switch to the DEFAULT theme: "3-bar" menu button or Tools -> Add-ons -> Themes
- do NOT click the "Refresh Firefox" button on the Troubleshoot Mode start window
- https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/diagnose-firefox-issues-using-troubleshoot-mode
- https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/troubleshoot-extensions-themes-to-fix-problems
Boot the computer in Windows Safe Mode with network support to see if that has effect.
- https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tuto.../how-to-start-windows-in-safe-mode/
- https://www.digitalcitizen.life/4-ways-boot-safe-mode-windows-10/
All Replies (5)
@ Dropa - Oh, sure thing. Twitter, for instance, has gifs affected by this error, and they just show as invisible. Most sites (such as Tumblr, news sites, etc) video players show as the second image here (this specific one is from Tumblr), where they just show as a black screen and stay at the first second of the video, not playing. Tiktok shows the first frame of the video instead of a black screen (no screenshot of this because I'm rarely on tiktok), but doesn't play any of the video. I hope this is more helpful.
Chosen Solution
Those animated GIFs on Twitter and other websites are likely not GIF images, but are short MP4 files that are played with the HTML5 media player.
Start Firefox in Troubleshoot Mode to check if one of the extensions ("3-bar" menu button or Tools -> Add-ons -> Extensions) or if hardware acceleration or userChrome.css is causing the problem.
- switch to the DEFAULT theme: "3-bar" menu button or Tools -> Add-ons -> Themes
- do NOT click the "Refresh Firefox" button on the Troubleshoot Mode start window
- https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/diagnose-firefox-issues-using-troubleshoot-mode
- https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/troubleshoot-extensions-themes-to-fix-problems
Boot the computer in Windows Safe Mode with network support to see if that has effect.
@cor-el Okay, um, I'm having a problem here because going into Troubleshooting Mode did work, but I had already checked my extensions before, and Hardware Acceleration, but I checked userchrome and I don't... seem to have it? I checked where the folder should be and it doesn't exist. So it can't be that either.
The only thing I can think of is that disabling extensions one by one and refreshing the affected pages didn't actually change anything when I tested it and it actually is an extension, but I'll have no way to actually check which way it is because I can't test it other than to disable one and to wait for an hour or two.
If there's anything else at all it could be, please let me know, because I'm at a loss here.
Modified by Magpie
Could also be a problem with Enhanced Tracking Protection when it encounters some specific ads or trackers blocked by ETP.
Update: it was an extension (new XKit) and I did have to disable them all and re-enable them extremely slowly until one of them broke videos. Thanks for the tips, all!