Firefox cant play streaming video, plays other video only in SAFE mode. (Have Windows XP)
Dear Firefox.
I have to use XP ATM because of other software I have that doesn't like anything else!
Firefox can't play any videos anywhere in ordinary mode. In SAFE mode, it plays YouTube fine but not any streaming vids., it says 'no content with suitable MIME found' - that's probably not TOTALLY the right wording but the MIME part's right and the overall sense of what it's saying is correct. It can't play streaming video even on YouTube in any mode, though! I know it's not Windows XP because Chrome plays it all fine, it's just I don't like Chrome (feels like Big Brother is Watching Me!)
I've got Firefox 52.9.
Can this version play streaming video, or wasn't it ever able to?
Yours puzzledly - I don't understand why starting in SAFE mode makes it able to play any vids. at all. I thought SAFE mode just turned off all plug-ins, yet if I turn off all plug-ins and start it normally it can't play any video. Only in SAFE mode. So SAFE mode must be doing something else apart from turning off plugins - but what!?!?!
Chris.
All Replies (5)
Hi, if it plays in Safe Mode then something is blocking it when not.
Most Video is now HTML5 so that then is your Video Card Drivers, uninstall and reinstall.
Also try No Hardware Acceleration as that then would be the same as Safe Mode.
VIDEO AUDIO
- https://support.google.com/youtube/topic/3014746 - Youtube
- https://www.youtube.com/html5/ - Can you support HTML5
- https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/fix-common-audio-and-video-issues
- https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/html5-audio-and-video-firefox
- https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/fix-video-audio-problems-firefox-windows
Update your Flash Player to 31.
In Firefox Safe mode these changes are effective:
- all extensions are disabled (about:addons)
- default theme is used (no persona)
- userChrome.css and userContent.css are ignored (chrome folder)
- default toolbar layout is used (file: localstore-safe.rdf)
- Javascript JIT compilers are disabled (prefs: javascript.options.*jit)
- hardware acceleration is disabled (Options > Performance > Uncheck to view)
- plugins are not affected
- preferences are not affected
Please help this idiot out - I don't see Options/Performance.
When I click Options I have the following list: General, Search, Content, Applications, Privacy, Security, Sync, Advanced. Under Advanced/General (which I've discovered is NOT the same as the General in the left-hand column, tell me if I'm wrong in this, it seems to show different things) the Hardware Acceleration box is unchecked.
I still can't play YouTube vids. in normal mode, only in SAFE mode. As you say plug-ins aren't affected, I'm at my wits' end (didn't have to go far!) to work out why vids. on YouTube and similar sites (Vimeo etc.) play when I'm in Safe Mode but at no other times!
Sorry, I needs more help.
Yours sadly,
Chris.
ulrichburke said
It can't play streaming video even on YouTube in any mode, though! I know it's not Windows XP because Chrome plays it all fine, it's just I don't like Chrome (feels like Big Brother is Watching Me!) Yours puzzledly - I don't understand why starting in SAFE mode makes it able to play any vids. at all. I thought SAFE mode just turned off all plug-ins, yet if I turn off all plug-ins and start it normally it can't play any video. Only in SAFE mode. So SAFE mode must be doing something else apart from turning off plugins - but what!?!?!
Actually using Windows XP is a big part of the problem. Microsoft does not support the old EOL WinXP with the media foundation pack as they do with Vista SP2 and later Windows. The pack adds codecs that HTML5 players need in web browsers like Firefox and SeaMonkey. Chrome, Chromium, Opera has not supported WinXP/Vista since April 2016 and Chrome kind of cheats by coming with its own codecs.
You likely have two to four check marks as red on https://www.youtube.com/html5/ when they should be blue.
If some videos on Youtube (that are not fairly recently uploaded) do work in safe-mode then there could be some Extensions you installed in Firefox affecting this?
Seems to have some thought put into the solution and includes 52.0 https://msfn.org/board/topic/175591-enable-mp4-h264-aac-html5-video-in-firefox-on-windows-xp-without-flash/ Which James as found at other times dating to 2016, a few things have been edited July 2017.
So it is what ever you can make out of it or use VLC as it plays anything. videolan.org