Safari unable to stream video on Netflix or Prime Video. YouTube works but stops when I open other streaming

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Level 1

8 points

Safari unable to stream video on Netflix or Prime Video. YouTube works but stops when I open other streaming

Hello:

Video playback on PrimeVideo or Netflix streaming services doesn't work on Safari. The sites work well, I can browse tiles but not stream anything: PrimeVideo opens a blank screen while Netflix redirects to this help page implying browser not supported. YouTube plays well but the moment I open these other sites, playback suddenly stops.

Works well on Chrome/Firefox on the same Mac.

I am running Version 15.3+ on BigSur 11.5.3 using an intel based MBPr (2020)

Finding issues on other sites too, frequent reloads.

How can I resolve this?

MacBook Pro (2020 and later)

Posted on Feb 5, 2022 6:49 PM

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Answer 1

ryane77

Community Specialist

Feb 7, 2022 6:02 AM in response to mhmmdmz

Hi mhmmdmz,

Thanks for testing that out. We recommend setting up a new administrator account next, and then testing to see if you can replicate the issue there. That will tell you if this is a system-wide or user-specific issue. Here's how to Set up users, guests, and groups on Mac. Let us know the results.

Cheers.

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Answer 2

ryane77

Community Specialist

Feb 7, 2022 10:52 AM in response to mhmmdmz

Hello mhmmdmz,

If the issue happens in a new user as well, try booting into safe mode to rule out some software causes. Keep in mind that video and web-browsing may look a little different in general in safe mode. This still may help in narrowing this down: How to use safe mode on your Mac

Take care.

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Answer 3

ryane77

Community Specialist

Feb 6, 2022 2:35 PM in response to mhmmdmz

Hi mhmmdmz,

Thank you for using the Apple Support Communities. We see you're running into some issues with video playback in Safari, and we'd like to help out with this.

Have you checked other video websites like YouTube? How does that one work?

Try clicking Safari > Preferences, and then Extensions. In the left-hand column, are any enabled? Since other browsers seem to work, checking extensions may be a good way to narrow this down.

Let us know what you find.

Take care.

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Answer 4

mhmmdmz Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 6, 2022 7:23 PM in response to ryane77

Thank you for your response @ryane77.

YouTube plays well but something interesting happens:

While a YouTube video is playing, if I open Amazon prime or Netflix, the entire browser freezes and I have to execute a force quit.

Also, when I open certain websites (or PDFs from links), they crash after going through a loop of reloads.

No issues while executing the same actions on Chrome or FireFox.

And yes, extensions are enabled but even after disabling them, Netflix and Prime don't work. I've tried some websites that test HTML5 video and they work fine too.

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