Unlike Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox has excellent support for the HTML5 standard of video playback. However, when you play YouTube or other videos, you may often notice that the HTML5 protocols cannot be used to support all the features, at least not without installing Adobe Flash.
With Adobe Flash on the verge of extinction, wondering about how to use an HTML5 player in Firefox is a valid concern. Here I shall discuss how you can enable HTML5 video support in Firefox easily.
Firefox HTML5 Video Support
As mentioned earlier, Firefox actually has good support for videos following the HTML5 standard. HTML5 is the new standard of web development with extra features like audio and video integration. In Mozilla Firefox, the audio and video files using the HTML5 standard are supported, albeit with limited features.
Some videos still require the Adobe Flash Player, while some videos do not play at all. Such videos require the Media Source Extension feature, which Firefox disables by default.
How To Use HTML5 Player Firefox?
When the Media Source Extension feature is disabled, Firefox may not be able to support all the features of an HTML5 video. If you wish to play such videos with full support, or prefer HTML5 videos over Adobe Flash Player, enable the Media Source Extension feature for advanced HTML5 support.
Follow these steps to get the HTML5 player Firefox support:
- Open Mozilla Firefox on your computer.
- In the address bar, type about:config and press Enter to open the advanced settings.
- On the warning page, click on I Accept the Risk! Button to open the Mozilla Firefox configurations page.
- In the Search bar, type the following:
mediasource - This should bring up a bunch of media preferences for Mozilla Firefox.
- Locate the following preference:
media.mediasource.enabled - Change the status of the preference to true if set otherwise.
Upon restarting Firefox, you should be able to play all the videos with complete features that were uploaded using the HTML5 standard. For more information regarding HTML5 audio and video in Firefox, visit their support page.
Note:
There is an extension in the Firefox Add-ons page, that allows you to use the default Firefox HTML5 video player on every website. Check out HTML5 Video Everywhere for this extended functionality.
Wrapping Up
So there you have it. Now you know how to use HTML5 player in Firefox using the method provided above. Comment below if you found this useful, and to discuss further the same.
