Enable MP4 (H.264 + AAC) HTML5 video in Firefox on Windows XP without Flash

[patclash]

18 hours ago, Bersaglio said:

Current release of Firefox is 51.0. I can confirm that it does work fine with Firefox 52.0 Beta-1 on Windows XP SP3 too ! After upgrading my Firefox to 52.0b1 I was forced to re-create 'media.gmp-eme-adobe.enabled' (true) and 'media.gmp-eme-adobe.visible' (true) boolean variables in about:config. Then I restarted my browser and Adobe Primetime PCD got enabled again and MP4 (H.264 + AAC) HTML5 video worked! Voila!

Hi ,

I can confirm after update to 52.0b1 on my XP sp3 , that work fine

[noles20]

Although it's not officially supported, I believe it will be possible to use Google Widevine content decryption module in Firefox on Windows XP. This is based on the fact that this plugin works just fine in my chrome 49 install and yes I have updated it to the latest version via chrome://components. Additionally, this belief is even further fueled by the fact that on Mozilla's bugzilla page the same version of widevinecdm.dll (version 1.4.8.903) that my chrome  is using is offered to download on this page for Firefox. However, even after manually placing the file in Firefox's profile folder and setting the keys media.gmp-widevinecdm.forceSupported and media.gmp-widevinecdm.visible to enabled in about:config I still can't get the plugin to load. However, I did manage to get widevine to show up in my add-ons manager but it's stuck saying Widevine content decryption module provided by Google Inc. will be installed shortly. However, it never actually does even when I click on check for updates in the manager. Long story short, I was hoping someone in this forum could come up with a solution to install the plugin manually and to test to see if the plugin will load in Firefox on XP. Thus, I have provided the screenshots below to assist someone in helping achieve this goal.

[noles20]

Here's pictures of the working widevine files that Chrome is relying on.

[mixit]

This may be a bit premature, but at this point it looks like Mozilla won't be removing the actual Primetime support code from FF 52, so it'll likely still work in the upcoming ESR with the usual pref tweaks. It has already been completely excised from 53, but as you know, we "fortunately" no longer need to be concerned with that on XP. There's still time, though, so if some manager should feel a sudden urge to make a political decision to remove it from 52, it could happen, even though major code changes like that generally aren't uplifted once a version has entered beta. The default pref change (aka "plugin no longer downloaded at all in 52") that was discussed here before will be in 52, but that's not really a problem.

Also, since the Primetime download link is said to go away soon, maybe someone like @sdfox7 who already has an XP archive site could throw it up there? The link is in the opening post.

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@noles20
Not to discourage you in any way, but if your intention is to use the Widevine plugin as a replacement for Primetime, that may not work out. Unlike Primetime, the Widevine plugin doesn't provide support for AAC audio at all and I'm not sure it supports unencrypted H.264 playback (or encrypted playback on XP). At least I've seen no mention by Mozilla devs that either of those is possible.

All that said, if you want to experiment with it, you should be able to get it installed in the browser by changing your media.gmp-manager.url pref, replacing the %OS_VERSION% part with "Windows_NT 6.1.xxxx (x86)" (without the quotes). Probably best to reset the pref after installation.

Edited February 1, 2017 by mixit

[mixit]

On 2016/12/21 at 0:27 AM, Cixert said:

Video is running in spanish Firefox 50.1.0 but I do not have sound in h264 test page
http://www.justinwhitney.com/HTML5Example/

An icon appears with the speaker disabled.

For some reason, this sample has PCM audio, so no surprise there. (Sorry for a very belated reply.)

[sdfox7]

10 hours ago, mixit said:

<truncated>

Also, since the Primetime download link is said to go away soon, maybe someone like @sdfox7 who already has an XP archive site could throw it up there? The link is in the opening post.

<truncated>

DONE. I placed it in the SP3 end of life (EOL) directory. Not tested on XP SP2, I don't if it even works.

http://sdfox7.com/xp/sp3/EOL/primetime_gmp_win_x86_gmc_40673.zip

[mixit]

@sdfox7
Thanks, man! Future generations will appreciate your hard work! I'll add the link to the opener when I update it after the situation with 52 settles.

[Leifman]

So i was wondering, consider we all are on Windows xp here, using firefox + html5 enabled.... does anyone have any solution for "screen-tearing" while playing youtube videos? specifically with html5 enabled.

as i find this to be quite a pain, and why i forced youtube to use aggressive flash and not html5 for now, as with flash + fullscreen it seems to not happen.

Also for whatever matters, i have a nvidia card (gtx750ti oc edition)

[ekeda]

There is no solution for screen tearing in FF since vertical sync in FF is broken:

https://www.vsynctester.com/firefoxisbroken.html

[Leifman]

bummer

[Dave-H]

Strange, I've never been aware of this problem, and I play YouTube videos all the time in Firefox using HTML5.
Is it something that is only visible in full screen?
I'll be looking out for it now!

 

[blackwingcat]

On 2017/2/1 at 4:42 PM, mixit said:

For some reason, this sample has PCM audio, so no surprise there. (Sorry for a very belated reply.)

I have a same issue :3

[dencorso]

21 hours ago, Dave-H said:

Strange, I've never been aware of this problem, and I play YouTube videos all the time in Firefox using HTML5.

Neither have I... 

[Advanced User]

Doesn't work with my portable 48.0.2. Did everything as written in 1st post, but no luck. CPU does not support SSE, may it be reason?

[mixit]

With Firefox 52.0 slated to go live tomorrow, I tried the RC2 standalone installer (expected to be identical to the release version) and it seems that it resets/removes the media.gmp-eme-adobe.visible and media.gmp-eme-adobe.enabled prefs, so you'll likely have to add those again in about:config and set both to true.

I'm not sure if this will also happen with the internal/automatic updater, but it's likely. I'm also not sure if the internal updater will even allow the installation of "normal" 52.0 anymore, it may go straight to 52.0 ESR. Not that it matters much in this case - the Primetime tweak works the same on the latter.

Oh, and anyone starting with a clean profile will likely need to temporarily change the %VERSION% part of media.gmp-manager.url to 51.0 to get the plugin to download (like in the additional step given for 45.x.x ESR users in the opening post).

This should do for now, I'll update the opener once the dust settles after the release.