Play videos in the browser

  1. Which video formats can be played in the browser?
  2. View videos in a separate window
  3. Video problems

Which video formats can be played in the browser?

Yandex Browser can open video files with the following extensions: .mp4, .flv, .swf, .avi, .webm, .mpg, .ogv, .x-m4v, .wmv, .m4v.

Video files with the .mov and .quicktime extensions are not supported.

View videos in a separate window

Note. The video appears in a separate window if you launched the video yourself or it plays with sound. Video pop-ups are unavailable in Incognito mode.

You can view videos in a separate browser window. For example, you can simultaneously launch an app and accompanying video instructions. The video player window is displayed on top of other windows so you can watch it regardless of the application you're using. You can drag the window anywhere on the screen or resize the window. The video will continue even if you minimize the browser. If a video is in HTML5 format and contains subtitles (for example, videos on Youtube have the icon on the control panel), they will also appear in a new window.

Video in a separate window

By default, the video opens in a separate window when you switch to another tab or program. If this didn't happen:

  1. Open the video in the browser.
  2. Hold your cursor towards the top of the video player and click .
Tip. You can drag the icon over the video player anywhere you like.
Manage videos

Use keyboard shortcuts for quick control.

Pause / play Space
Skip 5 seconds forward →
Rewind 5 seconds back ←
Pause / play Space
Skip 5 seconds forward →
Rewind 5 seconds back ←

You can also slow down or speed up the video. To do this, click  → Speed and select the desired speed from the list.

Manage videos in a separate window

You can hide the video pop-up button or disable automatic video pop-up:

  1. Tap  → Settings.
  2. Click Tools.
  3. In the View videos on top of other tabs and programs section, disable the Show the pop out button on videos or Automatically open video in a separate window.

If you don't want videos to pop up in a separate window, disable both options.

Note. When the video ends, a video recommendation feed appears in the window. You can disable this. Go to Settings and under View videos on top of other tabs and programs, disable the Show recommendations in pop-out window option.

Video problems

  1. Videos don't play; they download to my computer
  2. Video playback problems
  3. Protected content is not played
  4. NPAPI and Unity not supported
  5. I can't disable video autoplay when going to a site

Videos don't play; they download to my computer

If the website owner does not allow you to open files in Yandex Browser, the file will download to your computer. To open it in the browser, drag the downloaded file icon that appeared to the right of the SmartBox to the browser, or use the Ctrl + O keyboard shortcut and select the file from your Downloads folder.

Video playback problems

If the browser displays a black screen instead of a video, the image shakes in online games, the video takes a long time to load, freezes all the time, or stops when you switch to full-screen mode, try one of the following methods.

Check your browser extensions
  1. Temporarily disable all extensions:  → Extensions.
  2. If this solves your problem, go through your extensions and turn them back on until you find the one that caused the problem.
  3. Disable the problematic extension. You may want to let the developers know about the problem.
  4. Delete your cache so that the browser doesn't load an incorrect copy of the page loaded earlier.
Change your hardware acceleration settings

Try turning the hardware accelerator on or off:

  1. Tap  → Settings.
  2. Go to System.
  3. If the Use hardware acceleration if possible option is selected in the Performance section, deselect it. If the Use hardware acceleration if possible option is off, turn it on.
  4. Restart the browser to apply these changes.

Check whether the problem persists.

Update your video card drivers
  1. Click Start → Dashboard → Device dispatcher.
  2. Open the Display adapters folder. A list of video cards appears.
  3. Right-click on the name of your video card.
  4. In the context menu, select Update driver software.

Check whether the problem persists.

If your problem persists, send a message to our support staff using the feedback form. In the email, indicate that the drivers were updated.

Protected content is not played

Note. Protected content is not played in Incognito mode.

If a video that has protected content doesn't play:

Update and restart the browser

An outdated browser may not support the technology required for fast video loading. Install the latest version of the browser.

When you launch the browser for the first time, some of the plugins required for the content encryption system to work properly may not connect. To fix this error, restart the browser, and the plugins will connect automatically.

Allow protected content to play
  1. Tap  → Settings.
  2. Open Websites.
  3. At the bottom of the page, click Advanced site settings.
  4. Under Protected content, enable Allow protected content to play and Allow use of device IDs.

NPAPI and Unity not supported

Yandex Browser no longer supports the NPAPI plugin that powers the Unity Web Player. This technology is outdated. Unity has also stopped supporting that plugin.

I can't disable video autoplay when going to a site

When you go to certain sites, videos start playing automatically. Unfortunately, there is no way to prohibit video autoplay on sites.