Source
r/firefox•
crowdit

YouTube H.264

Solved

Hi, so I'm using Firefox 36.0.1 on Windows 8.1 64bit and when I watch videos on YouTube, it will always switch to Flash player, despite having HTML5 enabled. I checked this site: www.youtube.com/html5 and this is what I get: http://i.imgur.com/ZcvPZ1l.png

I thought Firefox had the H.264 codec, but apparently mine hasn't. What can I do to make those red boxes blue?

EDIT: Solution: http://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/2yp0za/youtube_h264/cpbsktm

Posted Mar 11, 2015, 4:58 PM UTC · edited

1820
kbrosnan•

Are you using Windows N (Live in Europe). If so you will need to install Windows Media Player to get h264 playback in Firefox.

13
crowditOP•

Thank you! That was it. Everything's blue now and all videos work at all resolutions.

2
Karegohan_and_Kameha•

You're not the only one. H.264 stopped working for me too after updating to 36.0.1 (or any test versions). Worked fine in 35.

5
Colorfag•

YoutubeCenter also stopped working for me after the update. I was using that to force HTML5.

2
Karegohan_and_Kameha•

Use the dev version.

2
FranOntanaya•

Check here: http://www.quirksmode.org/html5/tests/video.html

If you can play the first video, the issue is YouTube's browser capabilities detection.

1
Karegohan_and_Kameha•

Nah, it's broken everywhere. Youtube, html5test and the videos on your page.

1
deusexflames•

How to enable WebM VP9?

1
crowditOP•

I honestly don't know what enabled it, I was just trying everything from this thread and around the web. Somewhere along the line it started working.

1
deusexflames•

http://i.imgur.com/aJaPGxP.png

1
blueish4•

Do you have the "OpenH264 Video Codec provided by Cisco Systems, Inc."? Check it by going to about:addons and clicking the plugins tab on the left.

Also, you might want to enable all of the preferences to do with mediasource in about:config.

0
Kaan_•

OpenH264 isn't used for playback at all, just for the video communication.

6
crowditOP•

I have the OpenH264 codec and I set all mediasource settings to true. Some videos work, but only in 360p. Some display an error: "your browser does not currently recognize any of the video formats available".

EDIT: Actually, two boxes turned blue! http://i.imgur.com/utOL7FM.png But the H264 is still red. :(

1
blueish4•

Example video where this is happening? Might be DRM issue, idk.

1
joeel84•

Just disable flash in Firefox's settings. Honestly you don't want or need it for most internet things these days anyway.

-2
crowditOP•

Now it just doesn't play at all. No HTML5, no Flash.

1
dblohm7•

HTML5 MSE video is not officially supported with Firefox 36.

EDIT: added the words "MSE video"

-4
caspy7•

I'm going to take it you mean HTML5 video is not support in Youtube yet.

Still the OP's lack of h.264 is a bit confounding. That should be supported.

4
Karegohan_and_Kameha•

I bet you don't even suspect what a stupid thing you just said. WebM, Canvas 2D, CSP and a lot of other vital features are core parts of HTML5, without them the web as we know it would not exist. HTML5 has been partially supported since forever. What you actually meant to say is that MSE, a minor element of HTML5, which enhances youtube playback, is not officially supported in this release.

-3
dblohm7•

God forbid that you actually take the context of this thread (about HTML5 video on YouTube) into account when reading it.

-1
Karegohan_and_Kameha•

God forbid you acknowledge your stupidity instead of trying to change the subject. Also your edit didn't make you sound less stupid, Firefox supports HTML5 video just fine, it doesn't officially support MSE, which is currently a youtube specific feature and also has nothing to do with OP's problem.

-3