SOME YouTube videos wont load in FireFox but will in Chrome. Ideas?

[Technique]

So I'll try & open YouTube videos in my default browser - FireFox (latest version for everything here btw), and they just wont load. I get the spinny circle, whereas other videos will load perfectly fine in FireFox.

 

I try to Google this but it's just a blanket statement - people wondering why ALL videos wont load. Well that's not my problem because SOME will.

 

I hop on to Chrome and everything loads just fine. Now ok that can be a fix, but if I can get everything to work on FireFox as it used to then even better for me.

 

I thought it was my Adblocker so I disabled it in FireFox, it loaded a couple ads but then the video still didn't load.

 

I'll give you the examples:

 

Failed video in Firefox but working in Chrome:

 

 

Working video in FireFox (& Chrome):

 

 

 

 

EDIT: Although interestingly, I've posted this thread using FireFox. Those videos have been embedded in to the thread and the top video that doesn't work when opening YouTube now works through the embedding.

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

Google Chrome loads some of Google's websites using the QUIC protocol instead of HTTP/S. 

Because of this, it is possible that Google Chrome will load webpages over QUIC when HTTP/S is not working.

Reasons for this could include some kind of local issue with security software (firewall, NIDS, web traffic scanner, etc.), a network filter or routing issue with the ISP or its upstream provider, or a problem with the website itself.

You can try disabling QUIC protocol in Google Chrome and see if the problem manifests when visiting YouTube.  If so, then it is an HTTP/S issue.  Just remember to re-enable it when you are done testing.

Mozilla Firefox supports the QUIC protocol, but only in Nightly and Beta versions.  More info about that at https://hacks.mozilla.org/2021/04/quic-and-http-3-support-now-in-firefox-nightly-and-beta/.  You could try installing one of these builds and see if YouTube videos play correctly in it over QUIC as another way of testing.

 

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky
 

 

 

[Technique]

On 25/07/2022 at 10:03, goretsky said:

You can try disabling QUIC protocol in Google Chrome and see if the problem manifests when visiting YouTube.  If so, then it is an HTTP/S issue.  Just remember to re-enable it when you are done testing.

 

 

Thanks for the response Aryeh.

 

To confirm - it must not be a QUIC issue or HTTPS issue then I guess - I disabled QUIC and the videos worked perfectly fine on YouTube via Chrome that wouldn't work in FireFox.

[+Good Bot, Bad Bot Subscriber¹]

The video works fine for me in Firefox. Did you try disabling all extensions? Reinstalling Firefox?

 

I see the first video is an VP9 encoded video and the second one is AV1 so that may be a clue. This is on Windows not Linux?

[eddman]

It works here in FF. Try the troubleshoot mode: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/diagnose-firefox-issues-using-troubleshoot-mode

[Technique]

On 25/07/2022 at 14:06, eddman said:

It works here in FF. Try the troubleshoot mode: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/diagnose-firefox-issues-using-troubleshoot-mode

Hmm, it works for me now that I've done that.

 

& yes Windows.

 

Since I've switched to Windows 10 this should be really easy to diagnose as I haven't put many extensions back on FireFox. Literally 2 changes.

 

Theme: Matte Black (Red)

Extensions: AdBlocker Ultimate (yep, only one extension).

 

I guess it's going to be the ad blocker & I also guess that turning it off wasn't enough - it seems I actually need to disable it.

 

But I'm fairly sure that I had an adblocker on my Win7 setup. Maybe not this one but certainly an adblocker of sorts as I never got the ads I do on Chrome.

[eddman]

If you're sure it's the ad blocker that's causing it, I suggest using "ublock origin" instead. Personally I do not trust any other.

 

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/

 

Its default filters block pretty much all ads (certainly block all on youtube), and I haven't had any issues with the sites that I usually visit.

[Technique]

On 26/07/2022 at 11:58, eddman said:

If you're sure it's the ad blocker that's causing it, I suggest using "ublock origin" instead. Personally I do not trust any other.

 

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/

 

Its default filters block pretty much all ads (certainly block all on youtube), and I haven't had any issues with the sites that I usually visit.

Hmm, turns out it's not the adblocker.

 

I tried your link but it kept blocking a site when I was trying to sell my phone (Music Magpie through TopCashBack for the UK guys here) so I turned it off, as in disabled it.

 

I then forgot to enable it

 

And have now opened a couple videos on YouTube which wont load.

 

Just tried a new theme. One video loaded, another still did not.

 

Refreshed yet again and then it loaded.

 

Weird

[eddman]

I opened both Music Magpie and TopCashBack sites with no problem with ublock on; I haven't sold or bought anything though.

 

Try clearing the cache, cookies and offline website data. If that doesn't help, try reinstalling firefox.

 

By the way, what GPU do you use and which driver version?

Edited July 28, 2022 by eddman

[+virtorio MVC]

Try the videos that won't load in a Private window. If they load there then there's something in your profile that's causing the issue.

 

If not, try disabling hardware acceleration in Options (https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/performance-settings?as=u&utm_source=inproduct) to eliminate any hardware/driver compatibility issues.

[Technique]

On 28/07/2022 at 06:33, eddman said:

I opened both Music Magpie and TopCashBack sites with no problem with ublock on; I haven't sold or bought anything though.

 

Try clearing the cache, cookies and offline website data. If that doesn't help, try reinstalling firefox.

 

By the way, what GPU do you use and which driver version?

For the record, I could also open both Music Magpie & TopCashBack.

 

What I couldn't do was click through to MusicMagpie from TopCashBack using their 'get cashback' link as I got blocked.

 

GPU (latest driver installed):

 

 

Although now you've brought up GPU, it's always baffled me...

 

Whenever I search Nvidia GeForce GTX 460, I always get single fan image results:

 

 

 

Yet mine looks like this one...

 

 

 

Why?

[eddman]

Yea, ad blocking filters are hit and miss; some links might erroneously be blocked. You can try playing around with the filters in the settings, or simply turn the blocker off for those two pages.

 

Your GPU is old and is no longer supported (latest driver is dated march 2018), so it might be a compatibility issue with firefox on windows 10. Try virtorio's suggestion about hardware acceleration.

 

I have no idea about the images. Maybe single fan models were more common.

Edited July 28, 2022 by eddman