Ask HN: New YouTube player not working in Firefox

3 points by gethly 8mo ago ↗ HN

I have noticed weird look of youtube on my *phone* yesterday. Today, I cannot play a single video on my *computer* when I use firefox. But when i switch to chrome-based browser, it plays just fine.

It is not adblock issue and has been like this the whole day.

Anyone else experiencing these issues? I saw some reddit posts but they span across multiple days, so I would think this was short outage from few days ago, but it looks like is is not and likely google trying to F with firefox again, like they like to do.

6 comments

[ 3.5 ms ] story [ 32.3 ms ] thread

glenstein 8mo ago ↗

Works for me on Firefox for Android with version 143.0.4. And I just updated to 144.0 and tried again, and that is working also.

samoit 8mo ago ↗

I also have problems with Firefox. I guess it is something Google related...

Bender 8mo ago ↗

Try 140.4.0 ESR as a work around to give them time to figure out what they broke unless you depend on a feature in 144. [1] Works for me on Linux and Windows. Or try starting 144 in safe mode to disable all addons as a test.

[1] - https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/140.4.0esr/

krst252009 8mo ago ↗

Yes, this issue is real and affecting many Firefox users — YouTube videos show a black screen or error message, while working fine in Chrome. It’s not adblock-related, and likely tied to how YouTube’s new player interacts with Firefox’s rendering engine.

What’s Happening YouTube’s new player rollout seems to be causing playback failures in Firefox.

Users report:

Black screen or “An error occurred” message

Videos not loading at all

UI glitches on mobile and desktop

Chrome-based browsers (Brave, Edge, etc.) work fine — suggesting a compatibility issue, not a network or account problem. What You Can Try Clear Firefox cache and cookies

Corrupted data can block video rendering.

Disable hardware acceleration

Go to Settings > General > Performance and uncheck “Use recommended performance settings.”

Try Firefox in Safe Mode

Launch with extensions disabled to rule out conflicts.

Switch to YouTube’s mobile site temporarily

Use m.youtube.com — it often bypasses player issues.Use an alternate browser until fixed

Chrome, Brave, or Edge are working normally.

gethly 8mo ago ↗

I figured it out. I must have gotten banned by youtube, despite me having no youtube channel, so i cannot like or comment videos. Hence I could have not "behaved badly" by any means. I opened the incognito mode, where videos work, i signed in and then instantly videos don't play. I have youtube account solely to be able to follow channels and have a subscription feed as well as history for recommendations.

This is the weirdest thing I have ever experienced with youtube.

PS: and obviously this is the same with chrome-based browsers. It is my account that is the issue.

gethly 8mo ago ↗

After three days it is working again. Seriously, youtube engineering seems to be going the Amazon way.