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How to stop autoplay of videos?

  • 18 replies
  • 55 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by DrewA

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June 2013: videos on websites start playing without my permission, how to stop this?

What I tried: I uninstalled Adobe Flash (disabling Flash add-on didn't work), existing "stop autoplay" add-ons are no longer working according to reviews, tried solution described in "How can I stop videos on websites from automatically playing?" (Type in the address bar: about:config Then search for: plugins.click_to_play Double click and it will be set to true) - doesn't stop videos from playing either. Sent feedback to FireFox about the issue.

From what I had read in reviews, this is not only about Flash: YouTube disabled add-ons and searches for anything that can play videos installed in Windows, including using HTML5 for this. Have no information how other websites do it.

How to stop this? Thank you.

June 2013: videos on websites start playing without my permission, how to stop this? What I tried: I uninstalled Adobe Flash (disabling Flash add-on didn't work), existing "stop autoplay" add-ons are no longer working according to reviews, tried solution described in "How can I stop videos on websites from automatically playing?" (Type in the address bar: about:config Then search for: plugins.click_to_play Double click and it will be set to true) - doesn't stop videos from playing either. Sent feedback to FireFox about the issue. From what I had read in reviews, this is not only about Flash: YouTube disabled add-ons and searches for anything that can play videos installed in Windows, including using HTML5 for this. Have no information how other websites do it. How to stop this? Thank you.

All Replies (18)

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Thanks for suggestion, but I already completely uninstalled Adobe Flash - there is nothing not block with Flash blocks.

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For HTML5 media you can try to set the media.autoplay.enabled pref to false on the about:config page.

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Thank you, I did what you advised, still videos continue to load and play automatically. Maybe it's not Flash and not HTML5...

Anything else that I could try?

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Try to set the Boolean pref media.windows-media-foundation.enabled to false on the about:config page.

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Thanks again, appreciate it! Did that, videos continue autoload and autoplay. Anything else to try?

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I'm open to suggestions and appreciate your help. The problem persists on YouTube, but many of other websites' videos are blocked, so there is some progress.

Considering another browser, but there is not much choice between major browsers, that are accepted for transactions and are secure enough. Sorry to end on such sour note.

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go to about:config again type in plugins.click_to_play double click it and it should come bold saying True, does it work now.

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Thank you! Checked, it's in bold and set "true", just as you said. Some videos on YouTube still autoload and autoplay.

What else can I try?

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Sorry, see my 1st and 2nd post here: no Flash at all, there is nothing to block. Updated browser to last version, unusable now, switched to another FireFox based browser, same problem persists.

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Chosen Solution

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Thank you so much! At last it worked, no more forced videos. For videos, when I need them, I can always use another browser.

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According to my add-ons manager. Stop YouTube autoplay is not compatible with this system-crippling ff22 update. This has caused multiple additional issues ....

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According to my addons-manager it works with firefox 22+

You do understand that you are spamming many email adresses with your rants, you can though ask a new question as jscher said.

Modified by kobe

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Hi baybean, if you are having a lot of issues, please start a new thread and include your configuration details (e.g., OS, plugins, extensions, custom settings), along with a list of the problems. Seeing them all together may help in diagnosing the root cause.

You can start here:

https://support.mozilla.org/questions/new/desktop/fix-problems

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For those of you who do not wish to use StopTube, the click to play plugin in the about:config works. You may just be missing one final step. Once you set the boolean to true, navigate to your firefox addons page and look for shockwave (adobe) flash plugin or whatever you use to play videos. Select the drop down to "ask to activate" and there you have it. When the boolean was set to false, the "ask to activate" dropdown option was unavailable.

Hope it helps.

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Thank you Thank you Thank you!

Users must do both. Set value to True (plugins.click_to_play - see above) AND set Shockwave to "ask to activate." I'm using FF 24.0 and Shockwave 11.8.8 and this combination worked perfectly for me. Thank you Mesem.