Firefox No Audio On YouTube Since Update

The volume issue been fixed. Should now be working on all browsers and OS. My guess is that YouTube didn't set an initial default player volume level when they did a software update. Without one, the YT player was likely looking for a locally stored Flash Cookie(LSO) for volume info. But one is not even set until the user manually changes the player's volume level using the slider.

Google is probably trying to track the volume that users watch videos at and made a programming error. That data might be sale able to someone. :)

Looking a little further, I've noticed that when playing a YouTube video for the first time, a Flash Cookie(LSO) Folder s.ytimg.com is set locally on a user's computer. However, it contains no LSO itself. Once the user adjusts the video's audio from mute, a Flash Cookie soundData.sol is set that records the volume level.





Apparently, the glitch is that the YouTube player is looking for this Flash Cookie, which does not initially exist, as YouTube hasn't set a default volume level for some reason. As long as you have this Flash Cookie, then any further YouTube videos will be set to this volume level.

Mystery of YouTube videos "volume mute" solved?

I decided to take a closer look and apparently discovered the cause, but still an issue with YouTube that needs to be corrected on their end. The real question is why?

The volume mute issue appears to be related to Flash Cookies or Local Shared Objects(LSO). Apparently, when YouTube loads a video, it initially places a Flash Cookie(LSO) folder, but with no data. Once a user adjusts a YouTube video's volume level from mute, then future YouTube videos will maintain their audio setting. Even if you clear regular cookies/cache, but as long as you keep Flash Cookies.

Some common apps and browser extensions that remove Flash Cookies:

• Firefox Better Privacy extension removes Flash Cookies by default when closing the browser.
  
  
• Free CCleaner checkmarks Flash Cookies for removal by default.
  
  
• Chrome browser removes Flash Cookies along with regular cookies when cleared through settings.
  

Using any of the above methods to remove existing Flash Cookies will cause the volume mute issue to appear in YouTube videos, when the browser is restarted or refreshed.

Apparently, the only workaround at this point is to keep Flash Cookies active, but creates another potential privacy and data security issue. Flash Cookies are also known as super cookies, in that they are not removed by most browsers except by Google's own Chrome browser, when using "Privacy>Clear browser settings.." to clear cookies/cache. You either have to manually remove them, or resort to a third party app or browser extension.

Some concerns involving Flash cookies can be found in this article Internet tracking via ‘zombie cookies’ may present a real danger.

exeter_acres wrote:
Yep...whenever I bring up a youtube video... the sound bar slider is all the way down..

very strange

X2

Didn't notice the slider position and tried all sorts of other stuff which of course didn't work. Check that slider!

BTW, thought it needed codecs installed but the site loaded a bunch of "crap" which a normal uninstall wouldn't remove. So I did a system restore and now all is back to normal.

This reminds me of the days when I worked and made a change to some computer system. For the next two weeks no matter what problem showed up, it was blamed on the change I made. I see this still goes on.

BTW, this YouTube muted video issue has been acknowledged by Google employees, but I've found no official statement as of yet.

SRT wrote:
Is there some place that this problem could be reported?? Looked at mozilla.org but couldn't find a place to report problems.

In the future and you have a problem with Fx you can report good/bad experiences with Fx thru Help/Submit Feedback menu. You are presented with 2 faces - 1 not so happy and 1 smiley :) Or the link at the bottom for reporting problems thru Firefox Support.

Or you could join Mozillazine Forum and post your problem. There are some very knowledgeable people on that forum and are very helpful. Their replies will be specific to the problem you post.

It's not a Firefox issue. The problem also exists in IE and Chrome. It's an issue with YouTube and needs to be corrected on their end.

I had that same problem and jumped thru hoops trying to fix the problem then read the above suggestion and IT WORKED!