Youtube 60fps framedrops (Edge & IE no drops)
Categories
(Core :: Audio/Video, enhancement, P3)
Tracking
()
People
(Reporter: krause.sarah1, Unassigned)
Details
(Whiteboard: [media-performance][media-youtube][media-playback])
Attachments
(2 files)
Screenshots.jpg
User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/70.0.3538.102 Safari/537.36 Edge/18.18363
Steps to reproduce:
Play a 1080p, 60fps video on Youtube
Actual results:
TLDR:
Firefox, Edge Chromium, Chrome -> Youtube 60fps video = 15-20% framedrops
Edge (old), Internet Explorer -> Youtube 60fps video = 0 framedrops
Hello,
the following issue concerns all (newer) browsers like Firefox, Edge Chromium and Chrome. I have noticed the issue when using my 2016 notebook which has an Intel n3710 cpu. Stronger PC's and noteboks would probalby not see this issue as they are powerfull enough to "hide" the problem.
The issue: 60 fps videos on Youtube have severe framedrops (15-20%) on all the mentioned browsers. The catch: (old) Edge and Internet Explorer have 0 framedrops when playing the same video. How can this be?
Two things:
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By default Youtube uses the VP9 codec for video playback. The (old) Edge browser automatically disables VP9 and falls back to AVC1 codec, when the hardware doesn't support VP9 decoding. All the newer browsers do not fall back to AVC1, which means even if the hardware doesn't support it, by default VP9 is used, which means high cpu usage, framedrops and lower battery life. Why do the newer browsers not fallback to AVC1 codec like the old Edge browser does on Youtube, if the hardware doesn't support it?
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There are ways to force the AVC1 codec on Youtube on the newer browsers via third party addons like "h264ify", or tweaks in the "about:config". I tested both methods and stats-for-nerds on Youtube report that the AVC1 codec is successfully being used. Nevertheless, 60 fps videos have 15-20% framedrops. Hardware acceleration was active during all testing.
As mentioned, this is an issue I observed on all the new browsers. Which means they all must be sharing a common video playback/hardware decode method. And since even Internet Explorer is able to play 60fps videos with no framedrops, I highly suggest that you guys take a look at this. Again, powerfull cpus with vp9 hardware decode will probably hide the issue.
Regards
Expected results:
On low end notebooks/cpus without VP9 hardwareacceleration 60fps videos on Youtube should not have framedrops using Firefox/Chromium based browsers.
IE and (old) Edge are able to play the same content without any framedrops.
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Updated•4 years ago
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One more important note!
When watching any Youtube video on the old Edge or Internet Explorer (regardless if 30fps or 60fps), in Windows task manager under GPU-Engine it says "GPU0-Video Decode".
However when using Firefox, Edge Chromium and Chrome it only says "GPU0 -3D" (note that AVC1 codec is being used on all browsers)
I highly suspect that this is the reason why all the newer browsers have framedrops when watching 60fps videos, as it stresses the cpu more if it isn't decoded via gpu, and if the cpu is not powerful enough it will drop frames. Ideally it should all be decoded via gpu hardware, like the old Edge/IE and not using the cpu.
I just checked and the same 60fps video has a 35-40% higher cpu usage on Firefox compared to (old) Edge.
Turns out that on the desktop PC with dedicated AMD gpu, it says "GPU0-Video Decode" in task manager using Firefox. That makes me believe the newer browsers do not correctly recognize the Intel mobile cpu n3710 from 2016. Maybe the gpu list for hadware decode needs to be updated?
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Comment 6•4 years ago
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Please do not adjust the priority or severity values on the bug. Members of the triage team determine those to help us manage them internally. We understand that this issue is important to you, but we have to make these decisions according to our available resources. Changing the values without input from a team member them won't result in the issue being addressed any faster.
No problem. I just read the meaning of the severity S2 which seemed more fitting-it says
Examples of S2 bugs
Bugs that could reasonably be expected to cause a Firefox user to switch browsers, either because the severity is bad enough, or the frequency of occurrence is high enough.
I did switch browser because of this, since Youtube is one of my most visited sites and without hw video decode as notebook user battery life and performance are impacted.
Also is there a way to edit the main bugreport? I would like to edit it to make it shorter and more readable/ put all information together/include updated information.
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Comment 8•4 years ago
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(In reply to Dvnci from comment #7)
No problem. I just read the meaning of the severity S2 which seemed more fitting-it says
Examples of S2 bugs
Bugs that could reasonably be expected to cause a Firefox user to switch browsers, either because the severity is bad enough, or the frequency of occurrence is high enough.I did switch browser because of this, since Youtube is one of my most visited sites and without hw video decode as notebook user battery life and performance are impacted.
Sure, I understand. It's a bit of a confusing situation to provide the capability for reporters to edit these fields when our triage process intends them only for use by team members. There's this note on the Bugzilla Etiquette page:
Unless you are the bug assignee, or have some say over the use of their time, never change the Priority or Target Milestone fields. If in doubt, do not change the fields of bugs you do not own — add a comment instead, suggesting the change.
But I understand that's easy to miss.
Also is there a way to edit the main bugreport? I would like to edit it to make it shorter and more readable/ put all information together/include updated information.
Not easily. If the information is in other comments within the bug, rest assured we'll see if. If you have more to add, feel free to make additional comments.
Description
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