Arch Linux

Vamp898

Member

From: 東京

Registered: 2009-01-03

Posts: 912

Website

[SOLVED] Confused about how Firefox plays multimedia

Hi there,

according to the Wiki Page, Firefox uses ffmpeg to play multimedia content.

My ffmpeg can decode and encode x265, but every test i run shows, that Firefox is incapable in doing so. I uploaded an mp4 Test file on my server with an HTML Tag and also tested using Nextcloud, i just get an MP4 error. I tried test videos on the web, no success. Firefox refuses to play these files. Also does Chromium.

So if Firefox uses ffmpeg to play these Videos, and my ffmpeg can play these fine, why is Firefox incapable in doing so and how can i find out why?

YouTube works just fine, no issues with that (no matter the quality/resolution).

I am guessing im doing something wrong but i don't get what and how to fix it.

//EDIT: Web (The default Browser of GNOME) can play x265 Videos just fine. Its only Firefox/Chrome who can't

Last edited by Vamp898 (2024-02-18 14:04:08)

mpan

Member

Registered: 2012-08-01

Posts: 1,222

Website

Re: [SOLVED] Confused about how Firefox plays multimedia

Hello.

Firefox uses ffmpeg, not passes content blindly to it. So ffmpeg’s codec support doesn’t translate to Firefox codec support.

Due to prohibitive cost of obtaining a permission to decode H.265 content, currently no browser supports this codec in software. If you paid the fee while buying a GPU with H.265 decoder, then some browsers may try to use it. But Firefox isn’t among them.

---

Sometimes I seem a bit harsh — don’t get offended too easily!

Vamp898

Member

From: 東京

Registered: 2009-01-03

Posts: 912

Website

Re: [SOLVED] Confused about how Firefox plays multimedia

Ah okay. I understand. So its not an setup/configuration issue but an political.

As GNOMEs Web can play them just fine (i assume they just blindly pass it to gstreamer which handles it fine), i have an working solution, but GNOMEs Web doesn't integrate with my Nextcloud Password Client (or any other beside Seahorse) and also doesn't support DRM. So its an poor mans solution to this problem but better than nothing.

In that case thanks for clearing things up at least i know that i can stop (for now) looking for an solution to make it work in FF.

I am a bit surprised though that Firefox on Android can play it, probably Google pays the royalty fees.

mpan

Member

Registered: 2012-08-01

Posts: 1,222

Website

Re: [SOLVED] Confused about how Firefox plays multimedia

It’s not political, but legal and financial. More on H.265/HEVC support in Firefox (and other browsers).

“Firefox on Android” is a separate product, formerly known as Fennec. Likely using Alphabet’s own proprietary stack, built into the phone, to play H.265. So this falls into the same category as browsers using hardware decoding. May not be available on all phones either.

I can’t say much about Epiphany (GNOME Web), but apparently it just blindly relies on whatever given system provides and passes it blindly. That’s not possible for a browser, which meant to be used by the general population (like the major browsers).

If you deliver content, you may consider sticking to AV1, VP9 or VP8, and at most providing H.264 (AVC) as fallback for outdated software. As long as the current versions of browsers are considered, VP8 is supported by all major ones, while VP9 and AV1 are not supported only on IE.

---

Sometimes I seem a bit harsh — don’t get offended too easily!