1845766 - Very apparent flickering in orange/red/green parts of YouTube and Vimeo video playback

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Core :: Audio/Video: Playback, defect)

Description

[abdulwahab3703]

Attachment: 20230727_185430.mp4

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10.15; rv:109.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/115.0

Steps to reproduce:

I'm on an M1 MacBook Air on the latest macOS Sonoma developer beta 4, on Firefox 115.0.2.
Right after updating to the latest macOS beta (this could've occured after a Firefox update, not sure), open any YouTube video with a sizeable amount of green or orange in it and the flickering occurs once the video starts.
Example video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rh7oegwCyRk

Actual results:

The flickering occurs quite rapidly (twice per second) especially in orange/red/green colored parts of the video and does not stop even in Troubleshooting Mode or with WebGL and hardware acceleration turned off. This issue does not occur in Chromium and Safari on the same device.
Tested the latest Firefox Nightly, the issue still persists.

Expected results:

No flickering should occur and the video should play normally.

Comment 1

[abdulwahab3703]

Comment on attachment 9346075 [details]
20230727_185430.mp4

Video showing the flicker on an example video.

Comment 2

[BugBot [:suhaib / :marco/ :calixte]]

The Bugbug bot thinks this bug should belong to the 'Core::Audio/Video: Playback' component, and is moving the bug to that component. Please correct in case you think the bot is wrong.

Comment 3

[Atmospheric Ignition]

I have also been experiencing the same issue described above by the reporter since updating to MacOS Sonoma Beta 4 on my 2021 M1 Max MacBook Pro 16in, the issue occurs in both Firefox 115.0.2 and 115.0.3.

• I was unable to reproduce this issue in the latest version of Chrome or Safari.
• I tried disabling all the extensions and opening the page in a new container, which didn't fix the issue. (I initially thought the issue was caused by me using the CanvasBlocker extension)
• I tried restarting the device, which didn't fix the issue.
• I have been able to reproduce the issue in the video linked by the reporter, as well as multiple other YouTube videos in the span of the last ~12 hrs.

This is my first Bugzilla report, so please let me know if you need any more information from me to help with identifying, and solving the issue.

Comment 4

[Mayank Bansal]

Radek Prusa , abdulwahab3703:

Can you attach the contents of your about:support to this bug as an attachment?

Comment 5

[abdulwahab3703]

Attachment: about:support data

(In reply to Mayank Bansal from comment #4)
> Radek Prusa , abdulwahab3703: 
> 
> Can you attach the contents of your about:support to this bug as an attachment?

Comment 6

[abdulwahab3703]

Sorry about not uploading a screenshot, I'm new to bug reporting on Bugzilla. I've attached the raw data above, hope it's enough!

Comment 7

[Atmospheric Ignition]

Attachment: My about:support

Comment 8

[fonfara]

I can confirm, having the same issue - did independent the same troubleshooting steps.
Also was able to capture it with screen recording
https://imgur.com/a/EFrzzAD

Comment 9

[u731785]

I'm using macOS 14 beta 4 and have this problem too. Flickering is very noticeable on red, green and blue colors and is present in Firefox 115, 116 and 117.

Comment 10

[Atmospheric Ignition]

The issue persists in the re-released build of MacOS 14 Beta 4 in both Firefox 115.0.3 and Nightly 117. I will be reporting this issue to Apple through the Feedback Assistant app.

Comment 11

[pirminis]

Attachment: about:support raw data

I can confirm this: https://imgur.com/a/9maJ9cI

Computer: MacBook Air M2

OS: macOS Sonoma (Version 14.0 Beta (23A5301h)

about:support:
```

```

Comment 12

[pirminis]

I can confirm this problem: https://imgur.com/a/9maJ9cI

Computer: MacBook Air M2

OS: macOS Sonoma (Version 14.0 Beta (23A5301h)

Firefox version: 116.0 (64-bit)

Comment 13

[fonfara]

Still the same with the latest Public Beta of macOS Sonoma Version 14.0 Beta (23A5301h) and Firefox 1116.01

Comment 14

[abdulwahab3703]

Yeah, just checked, the issue still persists on my M1 MacBook Air on the latest macOS Sonoma beta (23A5301h) and on Firefox 116.0.1 and Firefox Nightly 118.0a1.

One interesting thing I've noticed about the bug is that it only occurs when a YouTube video is being played at a resolution higher than 1080p. Video playback of resolutions at or lower than 1080p seem to be perfectly fine. A temporary workaround for this bug in the meantime is to play videos at a max of 1080p on YouTube.

Comment 15

[fonfara]

(In reply to abdulwahab3703 from comment #14)

Yeah, just checked, the issue still persists on my M1 MacBook Air on the latest macOS Sonoma beta (23A5301h) and on Firefox 116.0.1 and Firefox Nightly 118.0a1.

One interesting thing I've noticed about the bug is that it only occurs when a YouTube video is being played at a resolution higher than 1080p. Video playback of resolutions at or lower than 1080p seem to be perfectly fine. A temporary workaround for this bug in the meantime is to play videos at a max of 1080p on YouTube.

for me it even happens on 480p, I can't go higher than 1080 anyway

Comment 16

[Andy]

(In reply to fonfara from comment #15)

(In reply to abdulwahab3703 from comment #14)

Yeah, just checked, the issue still persists on my M1 MacBook Air on the latest macOS Sonoma beta (23A5301h) and on Firefox 116.0.1 and Firefox Nightly 118.0a1.

One interesting thing I've noticed about the bug is that it only occurs when a YouTube video is being played at a resolution higher than 1080p. Video playback of resolutions at or lower than 1080p seem to be perfectly fine. A temporary workaround for this bug in the meantime is to play videos at a max of 1080p on YouTube.

for me it even happens on 480p, I can't go higher than 1080 anyway

Double this! The lowest resolution it happens for me is 360p and it shows up on a lot of different video playback platforms. Last Sonoma beta and Firefox 116 on a M1 pro 16 for me. Tried a lot of stuff and nothing helps. Cannot reproduce the issue in any other browser (tried Safari, Brave, Arc and all play the video without flicker).

Comment 17

[DataGraph]

Ive also noticed this on other user uploaded video streaming sites, from what ive tested, Vimeo and New Grounds, but not any streaming services like Netflix or BBC iPlayer. Im using M1 MacBook Pro, Sonoma beta 14.0, FireFox 116.0.1 (64-bit).

Comment 18

[cowbones]

I am experiencing the same issue. I've noticed these issues occurring on Youtube and on Plex.

Specs:
Chip: Apple M2 Pro
macOS: Sonoma 14.0 Beta (23A5301h)
Firefox: 116.0.2

Comment 19

[u731785]

No flickering on beta 5 (23A5312d)

Comment 20

[pirminis]

Can confirm, no flickering on beta 5 (23A5312d)

Comment 21

[abdulwahab3703]

Ah that's great to hear! I haven't installed the new beta yet myself but I'll close this bug now since the flickering seems to have gone for everyone. Thank you to everyone who contributed to this bug report!