[Solved] Youtube videos don't run

I'm trying to use some Youtube videos to sort problems wihtout posting on here, but they refuse to load/run - I just get a whirling white circle or a black screen. Any ideas?

I looked at replies for previous posts about videos and ran this
sudo apt install ubuntu-restricted-extras, but it made no difference - first attempt, got stuck at the agreement till I worked out how to highlight OK!

3/2/25 Update
Update.

Videos don't run on my old machine with Zorin Pro installed

Videos don't run on my old machine working from a Zorin Pro Try USB, so not the installed stuff

Videos DO run on my newer machine from the same Zorin Pro USB, so machine specific

On what browser ?
You can try turn off hardware acceleration under settings.Or if it's off ,turn it on. See if that helps
Lol I can't remember if it's supose to be on or off

Both Edge and Firefox.

Which Settings?

Edit Have found hardware acceleration in Firefox, but not yet in Edge, and turned it off, but it didn't help

ok i don't use either , but still have FF installed.
in FF i turned this option off and tested,then back on ,makes no difference when playing youtube

but your graphics is certainly different than mine .

could read through here also
https://thedroidguy.com/youtube-not-working-on-firefox-1164572

before running that , try run this 1st ,then that command again,just to make sure that multiverse repository is enabled

sudo add-apt-repository multiverse
sudo apt update

then again

sudo apt install ubuntu-restricted-extras

also run

sudo apt install ffmpeg

restart browser and see if works

Hi, I'd already installed it. but ran all of those commands anyway (don't know if this was wrong) and got no difference

Also did this and it said no changes to make. Still doesn't work

I've tried turning off graphics acceleration in Chrome, installing ffmpeg and I still get nothing but a spinning wheel when I play YouTube videos. Just installed Zorin yesterday to escape the MS world and things are not going smoothly. Any other ideas please?

2 Likes

@Tombar (& @mwhitson).
Are you running Edge in Zorin? I had multiple issues when running it in Windows 10 until I found a way of removing it and stopping it reinstalling itself. It is resource-hungry and runs continually in the background. I had the same problems on Friday, at work, when I had to use a spare laptop that has both Edge and Firefox installed. I was trying to play videos on YouTube but nothing would play.

I would try uninstalling Edge (you can always reinstall it, if you need to) and only have Firefox. Google tries to stop you using it without logging in, and you can't use adblockers, so I use DuckDuck Go with either Firefox or Zen. You do still need to configure FF as stated by others. I use AdGuard and Adblocker for YouTube.

•••

Very protective of user privacy

"DuckDuckGo does not collect or share any personal information. Their privacy page has a great rundown on why privacy is important. The most important repercussion of this is that DDG doesn't use the data collected to tailor results, avoiding exposure to the "Filter Bubble" https://www.slant.co/topics/23761/~browsers-not-based-on-chromium.)

As I've been watching YouTube yesterday and today, without the issues I had on Friday (on Zorin & Windows), I can only conclude that Edge was causing the problem. Good Luck!

Do You have beneath ubuntu-restricted-extras the Codecs in Gnome Softare installed? When You open it, scroll down to the end and there You see a Codecs Button:

Click on it and You will get an Overview of Codecs. Install them all and look if it works:

After that, it could be that You need to install ubuntu-restricted-extras again because there are some Codecs what could replace them. Simply type sudo apt install ubuntu-restricted-extras again in the Terminal.

What I meant to say is that I'm trying Zorin out because I hate Microsoft for many reasons and I want to get away from them. Edge browser is one of many things I hate - OneNote being tricked onto you is another.

That being said, I didn't even think of trying to install the MS Edge browser on Zorin. I have installed Google Chrome which has allowed me to try YouTube on both it and Mozilla Firefox, which I think was preinstalled. I getthe spinning wheel on both.

Also, It's my understanding that DuckDuckGo is a search engine and not a web browser so I don't understand why you have mentionedit.

1 Like

I've never had problems in Win 11.

Uninstalled Edge and rebooted - still same problem in Firefox with hardware acceleration off

What does this mean?

1 Like

Hi @mwhitson , and welcome to Zorin and the forum!

My response about Edge was to the original poster, but as I didn't want to write two replies, I included both of you. Sorry for the confusion.

I mentioned DuckDuck Go because you need a search engine as well as a browser, and Google Chrome can also cause problems - especially recently - when trying to load / play YouTube videos (especially if you use certain addons to block ads). This is not a problem with Zorin_OS.

Using DDG (or another search engine) could fix the problems you are experiencing. I had the same problems with YouTube on Friday when using a borrowed Windows laptop. On my own Windows laptop, and on the ones I have Zorin_OS on, using DDG and Firefox or ZEN (a fork of FF), I have had no problems whatsoever, even on Friday evening after work, when I was using 2 computers, one Windows the other Zorin, but both with Firefox and DDG.

They're a web browser now too. I'm using it on my phone.

2 Likes

Quote: " Ubuntu Restricted Extras: What They Are and How to Install Them

11 Apr 2024By installing the Ubuntu Restricted Extras, you expand the capabilities of your Ubuntu system to include a wider array of multimedia playback options and font choices, thereby enhancing both personal and professional computing tasks."
https://linuxconfig.org/ubuntu-restricted-extras-what-they-are-and-how-to-install-them

Zorin_OS is based on Ubuntu.

I also use it on my Android phone and it works really well!

have you tried any of the things in the link i gave ?
https://thedroidguy.com/youtube-not-working-on-firefox-1164572

Have tried again - gone through the multiverse (added multiverse to everything), then update (none to do), then this

om@OldMesh:~$ sudo apt install ubuntu-restricted-extras
Waiting for cache lock: Could not get lock /var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend. It is heWaiting for cache lock: Could not get lock /var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend. It is held by process 25158 (synaptic)
Waiting for cache lock: Could not get lock /var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend. It is heWaiting for cache lock: Could not get lock /var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend. It is held by process 25158 (synaptic)
Waiting for cache lock: Could not get lock /var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend. It is heWaiting for cache lock: Could not get lock /var/lib/dpkg/lock-frontend. It is held by process 25158 (synaptic)

Released it was open in Synaptic, so closed Synaptic and ran again.
Still same video problem in Firefox.

PS How do you cancel a post?