# Problem with YouTube using Firefox **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 15, 2008, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-with-youtube-using-firefox/445373 "2008-04-15T00:13:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pasunejen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/58956e/32.png) [@pasunejen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pasunejen)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-with-youtube-using-firefox/445373/21 "2008-04-15T21:39:09Z")
[QUOTE=Little Nemo] Looking into it a little further, I don’t think I’m even using Firefox. I use Netscape 7.2 - isn’t that my internet browser? In either event, I shut off my computer and restart it every day so that isn’t a solution. If I try downloading this Flash player update they’re suggesting will there be any drawbacks? [/QUOTE] Not sure whether or not this has anything to do with it–but could Netscape problems be due to the fact that it’s [no longer supported](http://blog.netscape.com/2007/12/28/end-of-support-for-netscape-web-browsers/) ? ---
**Author:** ![Myglaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-with-youtube-using-firefox/445373/22 "2008-04-15T22:06:28Z")
It should still work just the same, it just isn’t receiving updates anymore. 7.2 is pretty ancient though. ---
**Author:** ![GythaOgg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/49beb7/32.png) [@GythaOgg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GythaOgg)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-with-youtube-using-firefox/445373/23 "2008-04-16T00:05:49Z")
I had the exact same problem this week, with Netscape 7.2. Apparently, it has something to do with that older version of Netscape not supporting the latest version of Flash. I poked around the net and came to the conclusion the only fix was to change to another browser. I upgraded to Netscape 9.0 and Youtube is working fine now. (I know Netscape is no longer supported, but I’ve used it for so long and I want to keep on just a while longer…) Hope this helps. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-with-youtube-using-firefox/445373/24 "2008-04-16T00:25:39Z")
Grr!!:mad: Nothing I try is working! Not for Firefox, anyway. Youtube plays fine for IE. But like I said, I don’t want to switch search engines for one lousy site! WTF? ---
**Author:** ![3acresandatruck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/e79b87/32.png) [@3acresandatruck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3acresandatruck)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-with-youtube-using-firefox/445373/25 "2008-04-16T00:58:11Z")
[QUOTE=pkbites] Grr!!:mad: Nothing I try is working! Not for Firefox, anyway. Youtube plays fine for IE. But like I said, I don’t want to switch search engines for one lousy site! WTF? [/QUOTE] It looks like they made a recent change that affected older Mozilla-based browsers. Youtube is no longer working for me, but it still worked a week ago. I’m now getting the same message you quoted in your OP. I use Firebird 0.7, and I can live without Youtube. ---
**Author:** ![HongKongFooey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c4cdca/32.png) [@HongKongFooey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HongKongFooey)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-with-youtube-using-firefox/445373/26 "2008-04-16T01:00:04Z")
Do you have any add-ons that are related? For instance there are some extensions that allow you to download flash videos, maybe there’s an issue there somehow. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-with-youtube-using-firefox/445373/27 "2008-04-16T01:17:04Z")
[QUOTE=HongKongFooey] Do you have any add-ons that are related? For instance there are some extensions that allow you to download flash videos, maybe there’s an issue there somehow. [/QUOTE] I’ve added nothing! Nobody else has access to this computer. Nothing has changed. One day everything was fine, the next not. ---
**Author:** ![HongKongFooey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c4cdca/32.png) [@HongKongFooey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HongKongFooey)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-with-youtube-using-firefox/445373/28 "2008-04-16T01:27:19Z")
[QUOTE=pkbites] I’ve added nothing! Nobody else has access to this computer. Nothing has changed. One day everything was fine, the next not. [/QUOTE] I have the same version of Firefox with the same version of flash and it works, meanwhile you can play flash videos from other sites…does…not…compute… 😕 ---
**Author:** ![HongKongFooey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c4cdca/32.png) [@HongKongFooey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HongKongFooey)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-with-youtube-using-firefox/445373/29 "2008-04-16T01:32:40Z")
Check out the last part of this: [http://www.techsupportforum.com/alternative-computing/mozilla-firefox-browsers/171884-quicktime-youtube-problem.html](http://www.techsupportforum.com/alternative-computing/mozilla-firefox-browsers/171884-quicktime-youtube-problem.html) ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-with-youtube-using-firefox/445373/30 "2008-04-16T01:32:57Z")
[QUOTE=HongKongFooey] I have the same version of Firefox with the same version of flash and it works, meanwhile you can play flash videos from other sites…does…not…compute… 😕 [/QUOTE] You got it! **W** … **T** … **F**?!? And before anyone takes my crabbyness the wrong way, I appreciate everyones posts here, and mean no snarkyness except to the situation itself. I’m having no other problems with no other sites in any way whatsoever. Why is this single one screwing with me? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![HongKongFooey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c4cdca/32.png) [@HongKongFooey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HongKongFooey)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-with-youtube-using-firefox/445373/31 "2008-04-16T01:40:05Z")
Here’s another option though probably a long shot: go to Tools\>Options and select the Network tab, there’s a box there to clear the cache, it’s worth a try. ---
**Author:** ![Omphaloskeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bcef8e/32.png) [@Omphaloskeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omphaloskeptic)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-with-youtube-using-firefox/445373/32 "2008-04-16T04:52:14Z")
I’ve noticed the same thing; I suspect that **3acresandatruck** is right that YouTube changed some of its version-detection code and it doesn’t work right for Mozilla. Here’s an ugly JavaScript hack that works for me. Follow the YouTube link to a page that gives the version error message (a page with a URL like [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzqumbhfxRo](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzqumbhfxRo)), then paste ```auto javascript:u=document.URL;r=/watch\?v=([^&]*)/;if(m=u.match(r)){window.location.href="http://youtube.com/v/"+m[1];}void 0 ``` into the location bar. This should give a full-window version of the video, until YouTube changes its back end again. (If this works, you can save this code as a bookmark so that you don’t have to cut-and-paste it for every video.) ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-with-youtube-using-firefox/445373/33 "2008-04-16T22:58:26Z")
[QUOTE=Omphaloskeptic] I’ve noticed the same thing; I suspect that **3acresandatruck** is right that YouTube changed some of its version-detection code and it doesn’t work right for Mozilla. Here’s an ugly JavaScript hack that works for me. Follow the YouTube link to a page that gives the version error message (a page with a URL like [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzqumbhfxRo](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzqumbhfxRo)), then paste ```auto javascript:u=document.URL;r=/watch\?v=([^&]*)/;if(m=u.match(r)){window.location.href="http://youtube.com/v/"+m[1];}void 0 ``` into the location bar. This should give a full-window version of the video, until YouTube changes its back end again. (If this works, you can save this code as a bookmark so that you don’t have to cut-and-paste it for every video.) [/QUOTE] Sonovabitch! It worked!! 🆒 Thanks! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Omphaloskeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bcef8e/32.png) [@Omphaloskeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omphaloskeptic)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-with-youtube-using-firefox/445373/34 "2008-04-17T16:30:25Z")
[QUOTE=pkbites] Sonovabitch! It worked!! 🆒 [/QUOTE] Of course, now YouTube seems to be working in Mozilla again… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/problem-with-youtube-using-firefox/445373.md?page=1)