Fix YouTube Not Working or Videos Not Playing on Chrome!
Q: Hello. I need help, people! I honestly can’t figure out why YouTube isn’t working on my Chrome browser. I mean, everything else is fine, so what the heck is the problem? A little help, anyone?
Many users have reported Google Chrome fails to load YouTube or play any YouTube videos, seemingly without rhyme or reason. Most of them can’t tell why it happens or what causes the error. While the solution to this issue may be as simple as switching to a stronger and faster internet connection, it can also be as tedious as resetting browser or app data both on the browser and application levels.
YouTube Videos not playing on your Chrome browser isn’t the end of the world. It can be fixed. All you need to do is to follow the simplified steps below to fix this problem.
- Solution 1. Solve Video Not Playing by Enabling JavaScript.
- Solution 2. Clear your YouTube data/Entire sites or browser data
- Solution 3. Update your Chrome Browser
- Solution 4. Disable third-party YouTube Chrome extensions
- Solution 5. Use another browser (urgent situations)
Solution 1. Solve Video Not Playing by Enabling JavaScript
If you turned off JavaScript, then you can simply go to Chrome settings and enable it. If you can’t remember performing any action like that then use the guide below to confirm that JavaScript is turned on for YouTube on your Chrome browser. Enable it if you find it turned off.
Step 1. Launch Chrome browser
Step 2. Click on Settings.
Step 3. Click “Site settings” to expand or open more options.
Step 4. Select “JavaScript”.
Step 5. Review settings.
Toggle the element circled in red to change settings. If it is already in blue (i.e. Activated) then JavaScript in your browser is already turned on. Next, you should confirm that YouTube is not included in the list of sites blocked from executing JavaScript from Chrome. Simply look under the “Block” section.
If JavaScript wasn’t enabled and you enabled it, go back to YouTube now and refresh the page. If this solved your issue, then congratulations! If not, kindly move on to the next set of solutions.
Solution 2. Clear your YouTube data/Entire sites or browser data
For optimization, YouTube and other services/websites you use/visit make use of cookies and may also cache/store certain pages on your device. Caching is when a website stores a webpage on your device, so when next you open that particular page, your browser simply serves the one it has stored on your device instead of establishing a fresh connection. That makes loading incredibly fast. However, this could sometimes lead to bigger problems, but thankfully, clearing that site’s cache usually fixes the issues.
Notice: Clearing a site’s data or the entire browser’s data will also clear/delete: Site(s) passwords, form autofill, predictions, items from shopping carts over e-Commerce websites (if you have items stored in an e-Commerce website’s cart. e.g. Amazon)
It is advisable that you, first of all, clear data of just the website you suspect is affected first (YouTube in this case).
1. Clear YouTube’s Data Alone (Recommended)
Step 1. Launch your Chrome browser
Step 2. Type in the address: chrome://settings/sitedata into the web address/search bar and visit it as though visiting a website.
This directly opens a configuration page. From the page, you can manage websites’ data directly.
Step 3. Click on the delete or trashcan icon beside the website to clear its data.
2. Clear Entire Sites Data
Clearing entire site data will do away with persistent cache and cookies. Your browser will be forced to make a fresh connection to YouTube servers and fetch your page thereby fixing your issue. Please follow the steps below to clear the entire site data on Google Chrome.
Step 1. Launch your Chrome browser and hit Ctrl+H on your Keyboard.
Step 2. From the page that displays, click on “Clear browsing data”.
We are concerned only with clearing caches and cookies so select the following from the list:
- Cached images and files
- Cookies and other sites and plugin data
You need not select or include other items like password or history as they normally have no part to play in the YouTube issues you’re facing.
Step 3. Set “Obliterate the following items from” (i.e. the items to be cleared) to the beginning of time.
Step 4. Click on the “Clear browsing data” button located at the bottom of the page to proceed.
Go back to YouTube and refresh the page. If you don’t notice any changes, for example, if your Google account is still connected with YouTube, that means the whole thing was unsuccessful. Repeat the process and restart your device if necessary.
On Mobile (Android):
Step 1. Launch your Chrome browser and click on the three dots at the top right corner of the browser.
Step 2. From the menu that displays, click on “Settings”.
Step 3. Click on “Site settings” to “Storage” on mobile.
Step 4. Find YouTube from the list/use the search box to find YouTube and click on the site to clear data.
To clear everything: Click on the “Clear Site Storage…” below the page.
Step 5. Click on the delete/trash can icon beside the storage space used by the website to clear its data.
Refresh your YouTube page and see if it works.
3. Clear Browser Data
This will be done from your device rather than the Browser. Before proceeding with the steps below, make sure you want to do this as clearing an application’s data is most likely going to clear every history, cache, cookie, cart items, password/credit card details.
On Mobile:
On your mobile device, depending on your operating system, simply go to Device Settings > Apps. Navigate through the list and clear data for the Chrome browser.
On Windows 10 PC:
- Find Google Chrome Browser from the list of apps and tap on it to display further options.
- Tap the “Reset” button.
- Confirm your action and launch the Google Chrome browser. Visit YouTube and see if the issue persists.
Solution 3. Update your Chrome browser
If at this point, there’s still no progress fixing your issue, you should consider updating your browser. Sometimes, old versions of the software or applications you use may contain certain bugs that will prevent the ever-changing design of websites work smoothly -that’s why software updates are frequently released. Update your Chrome browser to a version with bugs fixed and improved user experience.
Solution 4. Disable third-party YouTube Chrome extensions
If you installed any chrome extensions specifically for YouTube, you should consider disabling them though it is unlikely that an extension will affect YouTube in this way -but who knows? Extensions usually have lots of privileges… installing widgets on the webpage, etc. Disable YouTube Chrome extensions and try refreshing YouTube.
Solution 5. Use another browser (urgent situations)
If you really need to access the video and at this point, you haven’t solved the problem yet, then you should seriously consider using another browser. You do not need to spend hours of your time trying to fix YouTube on Chrome if it works on another browser. Also, you should consider using YouTube software or application on your mobile device.
Hope that you fix the issue already.
Originally published at https://recoverit.wondershare.com.
