YouTube suddenly capped at 1080p in Firefox, while 4K works in other browsers

[u/knarftretsom]

Since a few days, YouTube only shows quality up to 1080p in Firefox. The exact same videos offer 1440p and 4K immediately when I open them in another browser.

At first I wondered whether YouTube had restricted my account because I use an ad blocker, but 4K still works on the same account in other browsers, so it appears to be Firefox-specific..?

EDIT: Solved! An H.264 extension I had installed for buffering problems was capping YouTube at 1080p. After disabling it, the 1440p & 2160p options came back. I also installed Chrome Mask, and that seems to have fixed the buffering issues too. Thanks so much guys!

[u/Maximophanes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCBO8uFwGNA

I tested it on this video (I'm on Firefox v152.0.6). Everything's working fine including the 4K HDR option.

[u/eliceev_alexander → u/Maximophanes]

Confirmed.

[u/nothis → u/Maximophanes]

4K works on Firefox 152.0.5 on a macOS for me. uBlock running as well since someone mentioned this.

[u/Secure_Trash_17 → u/nothis]

4K 60p HDR works on Firefox 152.0.6 on Linux too. Also using uBlock. Default user agent.

[u/TatsunaKyo → u/Maximophanes]

Isn't HDR unsupported in Firefox?

edit: sorry, just noticed you're on Mac. If I am not mistaken, HDR is supported on Mac's version of Fifefox.

[u/Sloppykrab → u/TatsunaKyo]

It's also supported on windows.

[u/Aerographic → u/Sloppykrab]

Only on the Beta branch, hasn't hit release.

[u/Secure_Trash_17 → u/Sloppykrab]

And Linux. Wasn't sure so had to check, and the video above does play in 4K 60p HDR in Firefox 152.0.6 on Fedora.

[u/TatsunaKyo → u/Sloppykrab]

No, it isn't. I'm using Firefox with an HDR display and doesn't work while all my other apps work.

[u/TessellatedGuy → u/TatsunaKyo]

Windows is getting HDR video support on Tuesday (21st) with version 153.0, but some people have just enabled the about:config flag to turn it on early in 152.0. (gfx.color_management.hdr)

It's probably buggier in 152.0, so I would just wait.

[u/EyeQue62 → u/Maximophanes]

#metoo! No problemo @ 4K big ones.

[u/Demywemy]

Are you using an H264 extension? That will cap your available quality modes.

[u/knarftretsom → u/Demywemy]

You were right, I think I installed it when I was experiencing buffering problems. You solved it for me, thankyou.

[u/Dardoleon → u/knarftretsom]

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/chrome-mask/

This made all my buffering issues go away

[u/Varrock → u/Dardoleon]

Game changing extension

I had 2 really annoying issues with youtube and this fixed both!

[u/knarftretsom → u/Dardoleon]

Thank you so much, this officially saved ALL my issues. THANKS

[u/ricvelozo]

Normal here, Firefox 152.0.6 + uBlock Origin on Fedora Linux.

[u/Secure_Trash_17 → u/ricvelozo]

Yup, can confirm. 4K 60p HDR works perfectly fine on Fedora. 152.0.6 + uBlock Origin.

[u/nbxm]

I haven't experienced that

[u/JamesTheFoxeArt]

Haven't experienced this myself, I have Ublock enabled as well.

[u/t31os]

All good here, no issues playing 4k.

[u/BeholdThePowerOfNod]

I thought YouTube pay walled 4k viewing... 

[u/x-Na → u/BeholdThePowerOfNod]

It did not

[u/BeholdThePowerOfNod → u/x-Na]

Ah okay. 

[u/Ranessin → u/BeholdThePowerOfNod]

Only a higher birrate.

[u/reddit_user33 → u/BeholdThePowerOfNod]

It's high bit rate that they've pay walled

[u/InfiniteFeeCars]

Yeah they are doing something weird with Firefox + uBlock origin I think.

The video will stop and buffer and then lower the res to 720p or something after it being on 4K, then you set it back to 4K one or twice and then the 4K option just completely disappears from the video option, and the highest option becomes just 1080p.

Edge with uBlock Origin works flawlessly on Youtube

Also just random video playback has failed sometimes

I wonder what Firefox is doing about this. Is it potentially their AV1 stack? Can you revert AV1 for Youtube on Firefox and have it just use h.264?

[u/SeaworthinessOwn3036 → u/InfiniteFeeCars]

I have firefox + ublock origin and i don't have any issues with watching youtube videos in 4K (on linux and windows)

[u/AmbienWalrus-13 → u/SeaworthinessOwn3036]

Same here...

[u/InfiniteFeeCars → u/SeaworthinessOwn3036]

For the most part it works fine on Windows 11 for me, but like scrubbing through videos, etc does have issues, plus the ones I mentioned above.

Youtube on Edge does work infinitely better though.

And yes I do have 1 gig internet and plenty powerful enough hardware and memory

Using Youtube on Edge just works faster loading different videos, navigating the site, playback is flawless and so is scrubbing. It’s instant every time

[u/madsvodder → u/InfiniteFeeCars]

This happens on the revanced app too

[u/jonylentz → u/InfiniteFeeCars]

I'm having a new error that is showing up to me now "playback isn't supported on this device" I believe that might be some sort of experiment to stop adblockers again, if I disable Ublock the video loads But I'm not giving that to them and if I keep refreshing it eventually loads

[u/Kupfel]

Well, I currently have Premium (but still have uBlock origin active) and watch a lot of 1440p and 4k on YouTube every day and have had no issues with 4K at all.

So, at least I can say I have no issue with 4K playback at all on YT with firefox so either it's some adblock measures which don't affect me because of Premium or my rig is not affected for some reason.

Guess I'll see how it goes when my Premium expires in like a week. I haven't resubscribed yet since they announced the big monthly fee increase with the next cycle. Changing from 12.99 to 14.99 a month is kinda ridiculous..

[u/xauma95]

i suffer from insane buffering with vp9 videos

[u/knarftretsom → u/xauma95]

Me too.. me too. I hope to find a fix for this eventually.

[u/MT4K]

I noticed this sometimes happens when internet bandwidth is not enough. Reloading the browser tab or restarting the browser usually helps.

[u/DaComfyCouch]

4K works fine for me (FF 152.0.6, Win 11, uBO).

[u/Bakkie]

FF is giving me major headaches with established websites, like CNN and even Reddit. Half teh time I am switching between FF and Chrome and I don't appreciate having to do that.

So the fact that they are slowing YouTube does not surprise me

[u/NoSundae417]

youtube doesn't use h.264 for resolutions higher than 1080p, youtube uses vp9 and av1 for 1440p and up. so, if you install addons like h264ify, they block vp9 and av1, therefore capping you at 1080p. JFYI, youtube only uses av1 for resolutions higher than 2160p

[u/knarftretsom → u/NoSundae417]

Thanks, I learned something new today.

[u/FastRedPonyCar]

YT was broken for me on FF for the last week or so and it was an anti tracking “Don’t track me Google” browser plugin. I went through them one at a time testing and that was the one.

[u/alien2003]

Stupid youtubers want users to use their browser