How to Fix YouTube Videos Not Playing on macOS 10.15

Audrey Goodwin

2024-09-19 14:12:38 • Filed to: macOS Tips and Tricks • Proven solutions

When a blank screen or error messages stating you can’t watch a YouTube video is about ruining your leisure time, the best response is implementing troubleshooting techniques for YouTube issues.

You can use many different troubleshooting techniques when YouTube content will not play on Mac OS 10.15. This article features a compilation of all the different method to fix YouTube videos won’t play on Mac OS 10.15 problems.

How to Fix YouTube Videos Won’t Play on macOS 10.15

Method 1: Use Some Quick Hacks

Before delving into the more intricate methods outlined in the other sections of this article, try your luck with these few quick hacks first.

1. Press the “F5” key or “Command + R” to refresh the browser window.

2. Close all open browser windows when viewing the YouTube video.

3. Enable JavaScript in Safari by opening “Settings > Show Advanced Settings > Privacy section > Content Settings”, and then ticking the “Allow sites to run JavaScript” in the JavaScript section, click OK, and then refreshing your browser window.

4. Close Safari, and then hold down the “Shift” key while relaunching Safari. This is known to help fix certain Safari glitches.

5. Watch the video in other browsers like Firefox, Chrome, or Opera.

6. Watch the video through a Guest user account or in Safe Mode.

7. Use another source of internet connection like a different Wi-Fi network or a wired connection.

If none of these tricks works, then the problem might be more serious but not one you can’t resolve. Read on to find out more intricate ways to solve YouTube videos not playing on Mac OS 10.15 issues.

Method 2: Check Safari Extensions

The next thing to do after none of the quick hacks above works is to check if any installed extension is interrupting your YouTube video playback. To identify any problematic extension, you need to disable all your extensions, and then reactivate them while refreshing your YouTube one at a time.

To do this,

1. In an open Safari window, go to “Preferences > Extensions”, and then disable an extension by unchecking the box next to it.

2. Refresh your YouTube window, and if the problem still persists, repeat step 1, unchecking another extension and refreshing your YouTube Window each time. To restore an extension that has already been checked, simply tick the boxes next to them.

3. If can identify the problematic extension, you need to remove it completely from your system and not just deactivate it. On the Extensions window, click on the problematic extension, and select “Uninstall”.

Method 3: Clear Cache

If your YouTube videos will not play on Mac OS 10.15 Google chrome or Safari, it might be a symptom of a clogged cache in your browser. You should try decluttering your browser’s cache.

To clear cached files in Chrome,

1. Click on the three dots next to the URL bar on an open Chrome window, and then click on “More Tools” in the drop-down menu.

2. Next, select “Clear Browsing Data” and then tick the boxes for cached images and files, and then click the “Clear Data” button.

On Safari,

1. Open the Safari drop-down menu and click on “Preferences”.

2. On the next window, tap on the “Advanced” tab and then click the “Show Develop menu” in the menu bar checkbox.

3. Now, close the Preference window, and then open the “Develop” drop-down menu, and then click the “Empty Cache” option,

Method 4: Check your HTML 5 YouTube Settings

Make sure your browser supports features required for YouTube’s HTLM 5 settings. You can easily check for this by opening the site https://www.youtube.com/html5 on your browser. The site runs an automatic checkup of your system and gives a full checklist of all the HTML 5 settings requirements and the ones that have been met. If you find any item whose checkbox isn’t ticked that means your browser’s current version doesn’t support that feature, and you need to update it.

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Audrey Goodwin

chief Editor

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