YouTube may work best in the Google Chrome browser, but you should also expect videos on it to load without issues in other web browsers. This is not the case with Firefox. There have been complaints and reports from users where YouTube videos simply won’t load or don’t play and freeze in the Mozilla browser. Here are the steps you can try to fix the issue if you’re facing.
When you attempt to play specific videos on YouTube in Firefox, the loading indicator only be displayed but the video doesn’t play. There could be a case where YouTube video freezes and audio plays for 10 seconds.
Fix YouTube videos freezing issues in Firefox
I. Switch video quality from Auto
1. While you’re on the video page on Youtube, click on the gear icon
2. Select higher video quality from Auto
II.Use Private browsing
- Try to play YouTube videos in the Private browsing window.
- If the specific videos work, then the issue could be with extensions then.
- Next, you need to disable ad blocking extensions and others one by one and check video playback.
III.
Sign out of YouTube. Clear cookies and storage and sign back into Youtube with account credentials again.
Check if the video plays without any issues.
IV. Turn off Firefox Enahnced tracking proteciton.
Enhanced Tracking Proteciton may break websites, YouTube is not an exception.
- While on the YouTube site in Firefox, click on the security icon before the lock icon in the URL bar
- and disable “Enhanced tracking protection on for this site”.
V. If you’re currently using Firefox 104 or higher and affected where YouTube video freezes without playing
Follow the below steps to resolve the problem.
- Visit about:config in the address bar
- Click Accept the risk and continue
- Find and change the following preferences values to false
media.wmf.zero-copy-nv12-textures
gfx.direct3d11.reuse-decoder-device - Restart Firefox.
Though Mozilla has fixed YouTube Video playback issues with 104.2 some still experiencing the same according to reports.
Until Mozilla patches the issue in Firefox you can use the about:config solution mentioned above to fix YouTube videos that are not loading.
Note: Apart from the I and V steps are general YouTube video playback fail troubleshooting steps.
It’s worth noting Mozilla has fixed Firefox’s slow, lagging. stuttering issues on YouTube, the issues get repeated with the newer versions of Firefox.
Final words:
After updating Firefox to103 or v104 or later versions, most noticed and reported that YouTube videos freeze when tried to play in the Firefox browser. While Mozilla is aware of the problem, here is the fix you need to apply to enjoy watching videos on YouTube in Firefox in the meantime.
