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

Choppy FF youtube video but VLC smooth

more options

FF 48.0.1 Windows XP SP3, Lenovo T41 Pentium M 1.6Ghz, Radeon 7500

Youtube videos (360res) plays choppy (unusable to watch) in firefox, 100% CPU.

Same URL played in VLC smooth (50% avg CPU)

FF: youtube plaback, Nerd Info - video/webm vp8.0 vorbis, 640x360.

VLC: codec info; google/on2's VP8 video (vp80), 640x360, 30fps.

what I tried: - forced FF to use H264 codec, (adobe gmp) , same results, choppy.

- turned FF setting (use hw acceleration on/off).

- FF safe mode.

- full screen FF/VLC (vlc no problem full screen).

- tried latest adobe flash.

- installed lubuntu on this laptop and FF 48 (VLC under ubuntu plays comfortably smooth and cpu at 80%).


Is there any way I can play smooth youtube videos in FF ?

or the google/on2's VP8 codec is superior to vorbis codec ?

FF 48.0.1 Windows XP SP3, Lenovo T41 Pentium M 1.6Ghz, Radeon 7500 Youtube videos (360res) plays choppy (unusable to watch) in firefox, 100% CPU. Same URL played in VLC smooth (50% avg CPU) FF: youtube plaback, Nerd Info - video/webm vp8.0 vorbis, 640x360. VLC: codec info; google/on2's VP8 video (vp80), 640x360, 30fps. what I tried: - forced FF to use H264 codec, (adobe gmp) , same results, choppy. - turned FF setting (use hw acceleration on/off). - FF safe mode. - full screen FF/VLC (vlc no problem full screen). - tried latest adobe flash. - installed lubuntu on this laptop and FF 48 (VLC under ubuntu plays comfortably smooth and cpu at 80%). Is there any way I can play smooth youtube videos in FF ? or the google/on2's VP8 codec is superior to vorbis codec ?

Modified by boo9

All Replies (3)

more options

<strike>The computer is infected. GET NORTON ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE!</strike>

Modified by James

more options
more options

There may be an issue with your graphics card driver software. If Firefox cannot use your GPU to accelerate video decoding, all of the load falls on the CPU. Does anything in this article help: Upgrade your graphics drivers to use hardware acceleration and WebGL.