How to Fix Firefox Not Playing Videos

The Mozilla Foundation developed Mozilla Firefox as an open-sourced browser. It was released in 2003 and soon gained wide popularity because of its user-friendly interface and wide range of available extensions. However, the popularity of Firefox declined when Google Chrome was released. Since then, both have been giving tough competition to each other.

Firefox still has a loyal fan base who still prefer this browser. If you are one of them but feel frustrated due to the Firefox not playing videos issue, do not worry. Simply read on to know how to fix Firefox not playing videos.

How to Fix Firefox Not Playing Videos

Why Firefox not playing videos error occurs?

There can be various reasons for this error to occur, namely:

• Outdated version of Firefox
• Firefox extensions & acceleration features
• Corrupt cache memory & cookies
• Disabled cookies & pop-ups

Before, doing any advance troubleshooting, you should first try to restart your PC and check if the Firefox not playing videos issue is resolved or not.

1. Go to the Start menu > Power > Restart as depicted.

Once the computer has restarted, launch Firefox and check if videos are playing. Hopefully, the issue is resolved. If not, then continue with the below methods.

Method 1: Update Firefox

If you have not installed the latest updates to Firefox, it may lead to issues when you try to play videos on this web browser. There might be bugs in your current version of Firefox, which an update might fix. Follow these steps to update it:

1. Launch Firefox browser and then open the menu by clicking the three-dashed icon. Select Help as shown below.

2. Next, click on About Firefox as follows.

3. In the new window that now opens, Firefox will check for updates. If no updates are available, the Firefox is up to date message will be displayed as below.

4. If an update is available, Firefox will automatically install the update.

5. Lastly, restart the browser.

If you still face the same issue, try the next fix.

Method 2: Turn Off Hardware Acceleration

Hardware acceleration is the process wherein certain hardware components are assigned specific tasks to enhance the functioning of a program. The hardware acceleration feature in Firefox provides convenience and speed, but it also might contain error-causing bugs. Therefore, you can try to disable hardware acceleration to potentially fix videos not loading Firefox issue as:

1. Launch Firefox and open the menu as before. Select Settings, as shown in the image below.

2. Then, uncheck the box next to Use recommended performance settings under the Performance tab.

3. Next, uncheck the box next to Use hardware acceleration when available.

4. Lastly, restart Firefox. Check if Firefox can play videos.

Also Read: How To Fix Firefox Black Screen Issue

Method 3: Disable Firefox Extensions

Add-ons that are enabled on the Firefox browser may be interfering with websites and not allowing videos to play. Follow the steps below to disable add-ons and fix Firefox not playing videos issue:

1. Launch Firefox and its menu. Here, click on Add-ons and Themes as depicted below.

2. Next, click on Extensions from the left pane to see the list of add-on extensions.

3. Click on the three dots next to each add-on and then select Remove. As an example, we have removed Enhancer for YouTube extension in the attached screenshot.

4. After removing the unwanted add-ons, restart the browser and verify if the issue is resolved.

If Firefox not playing videos problem persists, you can clear the browser cache and cookies as well.

Method 4: Delete Browser Cache and Cookies

If the cache files and cookies of the browser get corrupt, it can lead to Firefox not playing videos error. Here’s how to delete cache and cookies from Firefox:

1. Open Firefox. Go to the Side menu > Settings as you did earlier.

2. Next, click on Privacy and Security from the left pane. It is indicated by a lock icon, as shown in the image below.

3. Then, scroll down to the Cookies and Site Data option. Click on Clear Data as highlighted.

4. Next, check the boxes next to both, Cookies and Site Data and Cached Web Content in the pop-up window that follows.

5. Lastly, click on Clear and Restart the web browser.

Check if the above method worked to fix the issue of Firefox not playing videos. If not, move to the next solution.

Method 5: Allow Autoplay on Firefox

If you are facing the ‘Twitter videos not playing on Firefox’ problem, then it may be because Autoplay is not enabled on your browser. Here’s how to fix Firefox not playing videos error:

1.Visit the website where videos are not playing using Firefox. Here, Twitter is shown as an example.

2. Next, click on the Lock icon to expand it. Here, click on the sideward arrow as highlighted below.

3. Then, select More information as shown below.

4. In the Page Info menu, go to the Permissions tab.

5. Under the Autoplay section, uncheck the box next to Use default.

6. Then, click on Allow Audio and Video. Refer to the image below for clarity.

Enable Autoplay for All Websites

You can also ensure that the Autoplay feature is allowed for all websites, by default, as follows:

1. Navigate to the Side menu > Settings> Privacy and Security as instructed in Method 4.

2. Scroll down to Permissions and click on Autoplay Settings, as highlighted.

3. Here, ensure that Allow Audio and Video is enabled. If not, choose it from the drop-down menu as shown in the image below.

4. Finally, restart the browser. Check if the ‘videos not playing on firefox’ issue has been resolved. If it isn’t, read below.

Also Read: Fix Server Not Found Error in Firefox

Method 6: Allow Cookies, History, and Pop-ups

Some websites require cookies and pop-ups to be allowed on your browser to stream data and audio-video content. Follow the steps written here to allow cookies, history, and pop-ups on Firefox:

Allow Cookies

1. Launch Firefox browser and navigate to Side menu > Settings > Privacy and security as explained previously.

2. Under the Cookies and Site Data section, click on Manage exceptions as depicted.

3. Here, make sure that no website is added to the list of exceptions to block cookies.

4. Move to the next step without leaving this page.

Allow History

1. On the same page, scroll down to the History section.

2. Choose to Remember History from the drop-down menu.

3. Move to the next step without exiting the settings page.

Allow Pop-Ups

1. Go back to the Privacy and Security page to the Permissions section.

2. Here, uncheck the box next to Block pop-up windows as shown below.

Once the above steps have been executed, try to play videos on Firefox.

If the Firefox videos not playing issue persists, move to the succeeding methods to refresh Firefox and reboot your computer.

Method 7: Refresh Firefox

When you use the Refresh Firefox option, your browser will be reset, potentially fixing all minor glitches you are currently experiencing. Here’s how to Refresh Firefox:

1. In the Firefox browser, go to the Side menu > Help, as shown below.

2. Next, click on More Troubleshooting Information as depicted below.

3. Troubleshooting Information page is displayed on the screen. Finally, click on Refresh Firefox, as shown below.

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We hope that this guide was helpful and you were able to fix Firefox not playing videos issue. Also, let us know which method worked the best for you. Finally, if you have any questions or suggestions regarding this article, feel free to drop them in the comments section below.