Firefox blocks me from saving images
Lately, I keep finding more and more websites that are able to prevent me from downloading their images. It seems this is becoming a huge problem now, and it's changing the entire experience of using the web.
And it seems to me that Mozilla are enabling developers to do this, trying to take away people's rights.
In the past, I could work around the problem (not that I should have to) by going to Tools > Page Info > Media. But even that method no longer works (eg go to www.bbc.co.uk - the large image in the top left is nowhere to be found in Media!) There are also sites which show PDFs that cannot be downloaded. That is just SO wrong!
The ability to save any image in a web page is a basic liberty of using the web, always has been. No website should be allowed to display images that can't be downloaded, it's just wrong. It's like someone making a magazine out of special paper to stop readers tearing pages out!
I've sent feedback about this through the Help menu, but no one ever listens.
Does anyone here have the ability to raise this issue with Mozilla? This needs to be FOUGHT against. They are helping large corporations to slowly strip away the basic rights of the public. Saving pictures may seem like only a small detail, but it ultimately leads to a 100% premium internet where no one can keep or save anything. Mozilla is taking the internet out of the hands of the public and putting it the hands of big businesses.
The issue of 'protecting copyright' is completely irrelevant. Any criminal operation determined to leech images would obviously have the ability to do this regardless. Plus, if companies don't want people to be able to download the high-res version of an image, they shouldn't put it online.
Solution choisie
Hi MartyJames, here are some reasons you might have difficulty downloading an image displayed in a page:
(1) You cannot right-click the image itself due to an overlay in front of the file
For example, previous and next buttons in a gallery may be implemented this way. One possible workaround for this is the following extension:
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/behind/
(2) The site replaces Firefox's right-click context menu with its own menu
You might be able to work around this by holding down the Shift key when right-clicking. There also is a setting to force Firefox's context menu to appear in front of the site's menu, but depending on the sites you use, that might be a huge hassle. (dom.event.contextmenu.enabled preference)
(3) The site doesn't honor a later request
Firefox does not just save the image out of the cache, it re-requests it from the site. Possibly some sites will not honor this isolated request for their own reasons.
I assume we also use different extensions to block various things so that can affect functionality in unpredictable ways.
MartyJames said
In the past, I could work around the problem (not that I should have to) by going to Tools > Page Info > Media. But even that method no longer works (eg go to www.bbc.co.uk - the large image in the top left is nowhere to be found in Media!)
I found it, but it is a challenge because there are so many images and they seem to be in no particular order (see attached screenshot also showing the Page Inspector tool). You can sort by URL or by image type, but it's still a chore to find something specific on a page like this.
On the larger issue, Firefox implements various standard features of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. I don't think Mozilla can afford to depart too far from web standards if sites are going to work as intended and as users expect from their experience in other browsers. But users will find workarounds.
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Make sure you are not blocking content.
Start Firefox in Safe Mode {web link}
A small dialog should appear. Click Start In Safe Mode (not Refresh). Is the problem still there?
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enhanced-tracking-protection-firefox-desktop
Thanks but that made no difference! I think that Mozilla are deliberately giving developers ways to prevent images being downloaded.
Many site issues can be caused by corrupt cookies or cache.
Warning ! ! This will log you out of sites you're logged in to. You may also lose any settings for that website.
- How to clear the Firefox cache {web link}
I really do appreciate your suggestions, but this is way off the mark here.
If buttons or links aren't working then you can check those elements in the Inspector to see if something is wrong. If the image is requested then you should also see this request in the Web Console or Network Monitor as a normal request or possibly as a JavaScript XHR request.
- "3-bar" menu button or Tools -> Web Developer
- https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Tools/Web_Console
- https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Tools/Network_Monitor
You can right-click and select "Inspect Element" to open the builtin Inspector with this element selected.
Solution choisie
Hi MartyJames, here are some reasons you might have difficulty downloading an image displayed in a page:
(1) You cannot right-click the image itself due to an overlay in front of the file
For example, previous and next buttons in a gallery may be implemented this way. One possible workaround for this is the following extension:
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/behind/
(2) The site replaces Firefox's right-click context menu with its own menu
You might be able to work around this by holding down the Shift key when right-clicking. There also is a setting to force Firefox's context menu to appear in front of the site's menu, but depending on the sites you use, that might be a huge hassle. (dom.event.contextmenu.enabled preference)
(3) The site doesn't honor a later request
Firefox does not just save the image out of the cache, it re-requests it from the site. Possibly some sites will not honor this isolated request for their own reasons.
I assume we also use different extensions to block various things so that can affect functionality in unpredictable ways.
MartyJames said
In the past, I could work around the problem (not that I should have to) by going to Tools > Page Info > Media. But even that method no longer works (eg go to www.bbc.co.uk - the large image in the top left is nowhere to be found in Media!)
I found it, but it is a challenge because there are so many images and they seem to be in no particular order (see attached screenshot also showing the Page Inspector tool). You can sort by URL or by image type, but it's still a chore to find something specific on a page like this.
On the larger issue, Firefox implements various standard features of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. I don't think Mozilla can afford to depart too far from web standards if sites are going to work as intended and as users expect from their experience in other browsers. But users will find workarounds.
Thank you all so much for the answers.
I'm afraid Cor-el's answer was a little too technical for me to follow. Plus, on the larger issue, I don't think technical knowledge should be a requirement for everyday users to simply download images.
Mr Scher, your answer was excellent! The 'Behind' add-on is fantastic and solved my problem! THANK YOU so much!
jscher2000 said
I found [the main image on www.bbc.co.uk] but it is a challenge because there are so many images and they seem to be in no particular order
In my Media tab, only a low-resolution version of the image is listed, not the actual image seen on the actual page.
jscher2000 said
On the larger issue, Firefox implements various standard features of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. I don't think Mozilla can afford to depart too far from web standards if sites are going to work as intended…
Sure, Web standards have always evolved, but with new features come new potential for those features to be used against the user, including a loss of privacy, a loss of control, and a loss of liberties.
IMHO, Mozilla should implement and support new HTML features, but should also assess how those new features could be used to erode existing liberties, and always build counter-measures into the browser. Case in point: if HTML now allows images to be loaded in a way that the user can't save them, Firefox should provide a solution. (eg a built-in version of 'Behind' add-on).
Anyway, thanks for your time, guys! :-)