Videos Not Playing on Mac

Experiencing issues while trying to watch videos online can be a great source of frustration. There can be a myriad of reasons causing a particular problem, ranging from the website itself experiencing problems to interference in the Internet connection. On the user side of things, there are a couple of options that could resolve common issues that prevent videos from playing. 

Start by checking if JavaScript hasn't somehow been deactivated on your browser. We will detail the steps of the process for Safari but they are fairly similar to other popular browsers. So, open Safari and go to 'Preferences' in the Menu bar. Navigate to the 'Security' tab and check the box for 'Enable JavaScript.'

If you have multiple browser extensions installed, it might be worth a try to see if one of them isn't the cause of the problem. Start by disabling all browser extensions. To do so, open Safari and go to Preferences. This time, choose the 'Extensions' tab and disable all extensions. Restart the browser and check if the Web videos are working properly. If they are, then the cause was indeed one of the browser extensions. Proceed to enable each one in turn until you've identified the culprit. You can then either remove the extension or check if an updated version is available. 

Clearing the browser cache also can resolve popular issues concerning videos not being played correctly. The first steps are the same - open Safari and go to 'Preferences.' Select 'Advanced' and check the 'Show Develop menu in the menu bar.' Go to the newly displayed Develop menu and choose the 'Empty Caches' option. Restart the browser and check if the problem has been fixed. Resetting the cache files on Chrome and Firefox is even easier, as the option is available in the regular settings of the two browsers.