Your browser can't play this video [Fix]

Are you experiencing the Your browser can’t play this video error on Windows PC? Some users have reported facing this error while playing live streams and other videos in their browsers. It is reported to occur in Google Chrome, Edge, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, and some other web browsers.

Why does it say my browser can’t play this video?

If your browser can’t play a video, the issue is likely to be caused due to your network—however, a corrupted browser cache, outdated display drivers, hardware acceleration, or interfering web extensions can also cause this issue to occur.

If you are experiencing this error, particularly with a YouTube video or a video that requires JavaScript, it might be the case that JavaScript is disabled in your web browser.

Your browser can’t play this video

If you get this, Your browser can’t play this video error on Chrome, Edge, Firefox, etc, try reloading the page or restarting, and check your internet connection. In case the error persists, you can follow the below steps to get rid of this error.

Reset your Internet connection.
Update your web browser.
Clear the cache and cookies.
Try playing the video in incognito mode.
Turn on JavaScript.
Disable hardware acceleration.
Reset your browser to its default settings.

1] Reset your Internet connection

If the above solutions didn’t work, it might be your network connection causing the error. So, you can try resetting your internet connection to fix the error. To do that, you can perform a power cycle on your networking device using the below steps:

First, switch off your PC and unplug your router.
Now, wait for at least a minute and then reconnect the power cords of your router.
Next, please turn on your PC and connect it to the internet.
Check if you can play your videos without Your browser can’t play this video error.

2] Update your web browser

This error is likely to occur if you are using an outdated version of your web browser. Hence, if the scenario is applicable, install all the pending updates for your browser and update it to the latest version.

To update Google Chrome, click on the three-dot menu button and choose the Help > About Google Chrome option. Let Chrome scan for available updates and download them. Once done, restart the browser to update Chrome, and then try playing your videos. Hopefully, you won’t receive the “Your browser can’t play this video” error message now. If you do, follow the next fix.

3] Clear the cache and cookies

Another common cause for this error is corrupted or outdated cache and cookies data stored in your browser. So, if the scenario is applicable, you can easily fix this error by deleting the cache and cookies from your browser. Here’s how:

First, open Chrome and click on its three-dot menu button.
Next, choose the More tools > Clear browsing data option.
Now, from the Basic tab, choose All time from the Time range drop-down and tick the Cookies and other site data and Cached images and files checkboxes.
Finally, press the Clear data button to delete the browsing data.
You can now open your video and check if the error is resolved.

Similarly, you can clear cache and cookies from Firefox, Edge, Opera, and other web browsers to fix this error.

Read: Fix Video Playback issues, problems, and errors on Windows.

4] Try playing the video in incognito mode

The next thing you can do is play the video with which you are facing the error in incognito mode. Open an incognito window in Chrome using the Ctrl+Shift+N hotkey and try playing the problematic video. If the error is resolved, it is likely that the error is caused due to a third-party extension. So, you can disable your extensions to resolve the error permanently.

Here’s how:

First, open Chrome, click on the three-dot menu button, and click on Extensions > Manage Extensions.
Now, please turn off the toggle associated with suspicious extensions to disable them, one by one.
If you want to uninstall an extension, click on the Remove button.

5] Turn on JavaScript

JavaScript is needed to play some videos in Chrome. For example, if you are trying to play a YouTube video without JavaScript, it won’t play. Hence, you must enable JavaScript in your browser to play such videos. Although it is enabled by default in Chrome, there might be some instances that the settings are manipulated knowingly or unknowingly. So, re-enable JavaScript in Chrome and check if the Your browser can’t play this video is resolved.

Here are the steps to do that:

First, open Chrome and click on the three-dot menu button > Settings option.
Now, go to the Privacy and security tab from the left-side panel.
Next, click on the Site settings option.
After that, tap on the JavaScript option and then select the Sites can use JavaScript radio button.
Once done, reload the video that you were unable to play and check if the error is resolved.

See: Fix Computer freezes when watching videos.

6] Disable hardware acceleration

The error could be caused due to enabled hardware acceleration in your web browser. It is a handy feature that allows your browser to get the maximum performance from your GPU. However, it may not work as intended in various scenarios. Hence, if the scenario is applicable, turn off hardware acceleration in Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Brave or your other web browser.

Here’s how:

First, open the Chrome browser, select the three-dot menu button, and click on the Settings option.
Now, go to the System tab and switch on the toggle associated with the Use hardware acceleration when available option.

Read: Videos, Sound, Pictures, and Animations not working in Firefox.

7] Reset your browser to its default settings

Corrupted or incorrect browser settings and preferences can be the main culprit of the Your browser can’t play this video error. So, if the scenario applies, you can reset your browser to its default settings to fix the error.

To reset Chrome, tap on the three-dot menu button, click on the Settings option, and go to the Reset settings tab from the left-side panel. Now, press the Restore settings to their original defaults option and confirm the action by clicking on the Reset settings button. Once done, check if the error is resolved.

Read: Fix Video Stuttering and Lagging issues in Windows.

How to fix Your browser does not support the playback of this video?

If you face This browser does not support video playback error in Chrome, Firefox, Opera, or any other browser, delete your browser cache and check if the error is resolved. Besides that, please update your browser to its latest version, reset your browser to its original default settings, or disable GPU rendering to fix the error. If you are experiencing this error in Firefox, you can check the browser configuration and set the value of media.mediasource.enabled to True.

That’s it.

Now read: Fix Your browser does not support the audio element.