Some YouTube videos glitching for no reason.

[PlainName]

Yes, had this start a while ago (but only just noticed this thread). I am running an older version of Watefox (the current version screws up some stuff I want/need). Haven't otherwise had any problems before, but I now get the pause, stuttering, etc. I tried various 'fixes' such as specifying quality (and trying from shit to great), sound (which I don't use anyway), ambient mode (whatever that is), etc. Disabled all blockers, private mode, nothing works.

It started with just a couple of recent videos but the ones I typically binge on were unaffected. Until they started doing it too.

And... it's Windows 7. Yeah, yeah, but Vivaldi on the same system is fine. And it's an old Vivaldi, much older than Waterfox, so if it was age that causes it then Vivaldi should suffer too. But it doesn't. And Vivaldi has blockers active.

Seems to me like YouTube has done something that affects Firefox and its clones. An ancient Firefox just gets a page saying to update it to a recent browser, so I suspect there is some newfangled Web3.5 thing Google have rolled out that non-Google-aligned browsers aren't hip to yet.

[Postal2]

... An ancient Firefox just gets a page saying to update it to a recent browser, so I suspect there is some newfangled Web3.5 thing Google have rolled out that non-Google-aligned browsers aren't hip to yet.

Of course you need an upgrade.

[PlainName]

Sure, that Firefox is, as I noted, ancient. It's only there because I never got around to uninstalling it once I'd switched to better browsers. Although, having said that, I use a not-quite-so-ancient Cyberfox to check saved web data actually saved properly. Maybe if I faked the version ref it would work on Youtube.

Edit: to be clear, I know you are saying your old FireFox works, but that's a recent 52.9. Mine is 32.0 so actually really ancient

Edit2: I meant user agent  but changing that to fake Vivaldi didn't make things any better. Worse, in fact.

[Postal2]

... Mine is 32.0 so actually really ancient

No problem. To make youtube work on the version of firefox that is on my screenshot, you need to replace the firefox files with the files from the archive below. Also, file substitution works on computers with a version of firefox without sse2 (43?).

[PlainName]

To make youtube work on the version of firefox that is on my screenshot, you need to replace the firefox files with the files from the archive below

Thanks. I might try that, but it would be interesting to know if you have the pausing issue with a current(ish) Firefox.

[Postal2]

Thanks. I might try that, but it would be interesting to know if you have the pausing issue with a current(ish) Firefox.

If your Firefox is 32-bit and there are files with the same name in its folder - change it and everything will work. I don't have any stops, because advertising is completely disabled in Russia, but there is a jump back for a couple of seconds every 23 minutes because of these dlls, it doesn't bother me.

[BillyO]

Nothing to do with Firefox.  I have had the same problems with various versions of Chrome.

It's just YT - "F'ck you, we don't care, and no, there is no way to tell us about it. We don't want to hear about it.  We have billions of customers and billions of dollars, so YOU don't matter .. bend over and like it or lump it .. now, agan, f'ck off!!"

I have a small YT channel and 5 years ago I was making more money than I am now even though I have about 3 times more views and subscribers.  It would be great if here was a competitive alternative.

[BrianHG]

Use the plugin 'h264ify' to force videos to use the older codec completely bypasses the problem.
Or using a really old setup where your hardware decoder forces the older video codec.
However, you will loose the ability to get 4k resolution playback.  You maximum will be 1080p.  Not even 1440p will show up.

[Bryn]

... Mine is 32.0 so actually really ancient

No problem. To make youtube work on the version of firefox that is on my screenshot, you need to replace the firefox files with the files from the archive below. Also, file substitution works on computers with a version of firefox without sse2 (43?).

Don't suppose this applies to me also, as I use Firefox 78 ESR. Even though YouTube works fine at my end... but I've downloaded the zip folder just in case anything screws up in the near future.

Also, good to see that I'm not the only one that uses an ancient version of the browser

[Postal2]

.....Also, good to see that I'm not the only one that uses an ancient version of the browser

I use these files to watch youtube on Windows XP computers, I don't know a simpler and more reliable way. Yes, these files automatically replace useragent when accessing youtube and contain modern codecs. I have Windows 10 computers, but I find it extremely inconvenient to work with them.

You can transfer data via COM at 921600 for a month, and Windows XP will not fail. For some reason, Windows 10 cannot do this, I did not succeed. Probably, Windows 10 can even reboot in the process, I do not want to find out.

[PlainName]

Use the plugin 'h264ify' to force videos to use the older codec completely bypasses the problem.

That's the fix, thank you 

[radiolistener]

Recently, YouTube has started sending a lot of unnecessary requests to various tracking sites like play.google.com. Interestingly, this coincided with discussions about the enforced throttling of YouTube based on the country. It seems that YouTube has finally degraded into an advertising dump filled with gigabytes of tracking and other useless junk.

I blocked most of these requests, but it spamming firefox console with error log messages and keeping youtube page opened for a long time leads to a huge memory leak...

I also have playback freeze issues with some videos. I suspect it may be due to a blocked ad. However, I will not remove my ad blocker, even if they stop playing videos without ads. If they do that, I will just stop using YouTube.

Once, I disabled my ad blocker and tried YouTube - it was a nightmare. Terrible ads filled with shouting and screaming popped up, often two to three times louder than the regular video volume. I can't imagine how a normal person can tolerate such garbage while trying to enjoy their favorite music videos or movies. So, adblock is must have for youtube.