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Mozilla: Update Firefox to avoid Netflix, Hulu streaming issues
Mozilla advises Firefox users to update to the latest released version to avoid experiencing video streaming issues after Google updates the Widevine digital rights management (DRM) on May 31.
The Firefox web browser uses the Widevine plugin to play DRM-protected videos streamed via Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, and Disney+.
However, once Google updates the Widevine private encryption keys and content decryption module (CDM) on May 31, video streaming services using Google’s DRM-protection technology will no longer work with older Firefox versions.
Firefox users might see “Video Unavailable. We’re experiencing a problem playing this video.” or “Pardom the interruption. Looks like your browsers is no longer supported.” errors, depending on the streaming platform they’re trying to use.
This will happen for Firefox users on version 87 and lower because their browser will still use the old Widevine CDM and private encryption keys.
Firefox 88+ users will not be affected because their web browser will download and enable the updated Google Widevine CDM by default.
To resolve this issue, users must update to the latest released Firefox version to ensure that the latest Widevine library is available for all video streaming services.
If you haven’t configured Firefox to update automatically, you can find detailed steps to update Firefox to the latest version on this Mozilla support page.
Firefox video streaming issues impacting Apple Silicon Mac users
Mozilla has also recently shared info on fixing a known issue affecting users of Firefox 84 or later on macOS and leading to errors on streaming platforms including Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, and Amazon’s Prime Video.
“If you’re on a Mac with Apple Silicon and are experiencing errors when trying to watch Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Prime or another streaming service after installing Firefox 84+, you might need to install Rosetta,” Mozilla said at the time.
As explained by Mozilla, this happens because Rosetta 2 is required on Macs with Apple Silicon to run apps built for Intel Macs (Rosetta 2 runs in the background, translating Intel apps for use on Apple Silicon).
Manually installing Rosetta 2 is required as a fix on Macs where users are not asked to install Rosetta when opening Firefox, the default behavior when launching Intel apps on Apple Silicon.
To install Rosetta 2 to fix video streaming issues on Firefox 84 or later, you have to follow this step by step procedure:
- Open Terminal by typing it in your computer’s Spotlight Search field or double-clicking it in Finder → Applications → Utilities → Terminal.
- In the terminal window, run the command: /usr/sbin/softwareupdate –install-rosetta
- Agree to the license terms, follow the instructions by pressing A and then pressing return.