While Google Chrome is the leading browser on both desktop and mobile, Mozilla Firefox continues to be the runner-up on PCs across the world.
And there’s a good reason for this, as Firefox remains a super-reliable browser that’s pretty much the only alternative to Chromium, in general, and Google Chrome, in particular.
One of the issues that I’ve seen people hitting occasionally concerns what can be best described as a screen flickering on YouTube.
Everybody uses YouTube these days, either frequently or occasionally, so it goes without saying that the smallest issue breaking down the online video platform is frustrating, to say the least.
And it brings together all kinds of awesomeness to make Web browsing better for you. And now it's also available on your Android device! The one time I pulled out Fox and took a game vs my Jigglypuff nemesis: Springlock! Shoutouts to my boy PeachIcedT hyping me up on commentary! Using Firefox in safemode, which caused YouTube to work again. I then re-entered the normal mode an disabled my only add-on (AdBlock Plus), but YouTube still didn't work. Deleting my cache/history - Doing the windows+r thing, and deleting temporary files, which someone else on the website suggested - Refreshing Firefox. A simple red button is added to YouTube video pages, which enables you to download videos. The button is integrated in a simple manner below the video and next to other YouTube buttons (see screenshots). Click the button to populate a list of available formats to download and choose the one you want. HD video support (with sound). Perhaps the greatest offender of internet etiquette today is video autoplay. Be it an ad, a YouTube video or a site that just can’t wait to tell you all about itself, autoplay video is an annoyance. In our own study 90% of the users polled wanted Firefox to stop videos from automatically playing.
In the case of Firefox, one of the most common problems is this screen flickering that makes videos on YouTube unwatchable.
While it’s pretty difficult to determine the cause of the bug, mostly because it could be different from one device to another, in many cases, it’s the video drivers the ones to blame. And because it often takes too long before new drivers are published to resolve such issues, there’s a simple flag in Firefox that could help you deal with potential screen flickering on YouTube.
First and foremost, it’s important to know that doing this doesn’t guarantee that the screen flickering is gone, but it’s one workaround that’s worth trying, that’s for sure.
Then, because it involves disabling hardware acceleration, you should revert the changes once your video drivers are updated, at least to check if the issues are fixed.
To disable hardware acceleration in Mozilla Firefox, here’s what you need to do.
Launch the browser and make sure that you are running the latest version of Firefox – you can check Softpedia’s Firefox page to always be sure that your version isn’t outdated.
Then, in the address bar in Firefox, type the following command to access the flags screen:
about:config
layers.acceleration.disabled
You’re going to need to reboot Firefox to check for changes on YouTube, so make sure you save your work before doing this. Restart the browser and then head over to YouTube to check if the screen flickering still happens.
If it doesn’t, then this is pretty much the workaround, and the only thing you can do right now is to wait for updated drivers from your manufacturer.
There are other issues that could cause screen flickering in Firefox, and in some cases, they could be related to the operating system that you’re running.
Firefox Youtube Fullscreen Cut Off
For example, as I explained several months ago, Google Chrome users also experienced screen flickering on YouTube and on other websites due to Windows Slideshow, a built-in Windows 10 feature that somehow interfered with the settings of the browser. Disabling the automatic color selection on Windows 10 was the workaround in that case, so make sure that you check your OS settings when looking for a way to fix the screen flickering.
Firefox Youtube Ad Blocker
One way to determine if the issue is related to the browser or not is to check if the screen flickering happens in other applications as well. If you’re on Windows 10, you can try loading a YouTube video in Microsoft Edge, which comes pre-installed in the operating system. If the same issue is experienced regardless of the browser, you can try installing an older version of the graphics drivers.