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WidevineCDM plugin keeps crashing

Hi everyone,

it's been 2 days now since every time I open Netflix and Amazon Prime videos won't play. A yellow bar saying: "The WidevineCdm plugin has crashed" keeps coming up!

I'm using Firefox and I'm on a MacbookPro.

I've tried everything: restarting/shutting down device; reinstalling Firefox; deleting widevine folder and activate it from the adds on page; tried on other browsers (works on safari but not on chrome); contacted Apple / Netflix / Amazon / Google nobody was able to help; I also ran these websites with my Mac in safe mode...nothing was able to resolve it.

What can I do to fix it please?

This started to happen out of the blue...I haven't installed anything! It was working fine until the day before...

Hi everyone, it's been 2 days now since every time I open Netflix and Amazon Prime videos won't play. A yellow bar saying: "The WidevineCdm plugin has crashed" keeps coming up! I'm using Firefox and I'm on a MacbookPro. I've tried everything: restarting/shutting down device; reinstalling Firefox; deleting widevine folder and activate it from the adds on page; tried on other browsers (works on safari but not on chrome); contacted Apple / Netflix / Amazon / Google nobody was able to help; I also ran these websites with my Mac in safe mode...nothing was able to resolve it. What can I do to fix it please? This started to happen out of the blue...I haven't installed anything! It was working fine until the day before...
Attached screenshots

All Replies (9)

amazing thanks Ben! I'm going to try this now :)

quick update - I've installed the old version like you recommended but in 'Adds On' the widevine plugin takes a looong time to install, I'm not even sure if it's installing or it's just stuck there, it says: will be installed shortly. It's been like this for a good 10 minutes now...

see screenshot

another update: IT WORKS NOW!!! :)

Thank you so much Ben for all your helo, you've been AMAZING!

For me it seems to stay stuck on the "...will be installed shortly". It's been like this for hours now, is there something I'm missing here? I'm on the last version of Firefox now (78.9)

you're welcome aless. and thank you for your patience and for sharing your experiences with us. :-)

jennifer.juba said

For me it seems to stay stuck on the "...will be installed shortly". It's been like this for hours now, is there something I'm missing here? I'm on the last version of Firefox now (78.9)

i am not sure jennifer. it could be stuck because of your anti-virals, maybe?

i'm no expert on the mac, although i have been playing on the mac catalina for the past few days, could you need to do a reboot and start again?

Widevine no longer supports Mac OS X 10.9.5 (minimum is 10.11) with version 4.10.2209.1, so you would have to install the previous 4.10.1582.2 version to see if that version still works.


  • 1706507 - widevine on every stream website who need DRM
  • 1706393 - widevine HBO MAX

Bug 1706393 comment 9: I've confirmed that Widevine are no longer supporting older MacOS versions (10.11 is the oldest they currently support). Sadly, this means we can't do anything on the Mozilla side as the issue is in software we don't control.

jennifer.juba said

For me it seems to stay stuck on the "...will be installed shortly". It's been like this for hours now, is there something I'm missing here? I'm on the last version of Firefox now (78.9)

Hi Jennifer, it was stuck for me too, I then turned 'on' the updates for Widevine while keeping automatic updates for Firefox off and it worked! So just switch widevine updates on and it should work! :)

I have the same problem since the 22th of april, after the automatic update of FF and Widevine. My IMac is 10.9.5. I have to update my OS... or wait for a fix... or buy the new Mac M1

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