Playing videos in Yandex Browser

Which video formats can be played in Yandex Browser?

The Yandex Browser beta version can open video files with the following extensions: MP4, WEBM, OGV, and M4V.

Video files with the SWF, AVI, MPG, MOV, X-M4V, WMV, QUICKTIME, and FLV extensions aren't 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 Yandex 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 resize the window or drag it anywhere on the screen. The video will continue even if you minimize Yandex Browser. If n HTML5 video contains subtitles (on YouTube, such videos have the icon at the bottom of the video player), it 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, hover over 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	←

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:

Click → Settings → Tools.
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.

QR scanner for videos

Yandex Browser can recognize QR codes on videos and display their contents. Browser highlights the QR code with a colored frame and shows the options to follow or copy the link.

To follow the link, click the QR code. To copy the link to the clipboard, click .
To copy the QR code's text to the clipboard, click Copy.
To hide the frame on the QR code, hover over it and click .

Attention. Please be careful when following unknown links.

To disable QR code recognition:

Click → Settings → Tools.
Disable Automatically recognize QR codes on video.

Hover over the video player for a second and click .
Disable Recognize QR codes.

NVIDIA RTX Super Resolution

Note. The technology is only available on devices with NVIDIA RTX 30-series and 40-series video cards. Support for RTX 20-series video cards may be added in the future. Drivers that support the technology are currently only available on Windows 10 and 11.

Yandex Browser introduced support for NVIDIA RTX Super Resolution in version 23.3.0. It increases the resolution of streaming video on the internet on displays with a resolution of 1440p.

Example.

Features

No activity indicator.
Works when the Yandex Browser window is maximized:
- In window and full-screen video modes.
- On the second screen.
Enhances all running videos with the resolution from 360p to 1440p.
Videos with DRM anti-piracy protection, YouTube Shorts, and HDR videos might not be supported.
Resource-intensive. Reduces device performance.
Doesn't depend on internet connection speed.

Enable

Download and install the latest drivers for your video card from the NVIDIA website. You need version 530 or higher.
In the system tray, open NVIDIA Control Panel.
In the Video section of the side panel, click Adjust video image settings.
In the RTX video enhancement section, enable the Super resolution option.
Select the quality: from 1 (lowest) to 4 (highest). The highest quality level is only supported by video card series XX70 and above, for example, 3070 and 4070 Ti.

Additional steps if you use a laptop

The technology doesn't work when the laptop is running on battery power. We also recommend enabling high performance mode for Yandex Browser:

Using search in the Start menu, find and open Settings → Display → Graphics.
In the application list, find Yandex.
If the application isn't in the list, add it. To do this, click Browse and set the path to the application. Default path: C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Local\Yandex\YandexBrowser\Application\browser.exe
Under the application icon, click Options.
Select High performance.

Go to Start → Settings → System → Display → Graphics settings.
In the application list, find Yandex.
If the application isn't in the list, add it. To do this, click Browse and set the path to the application. Default path: C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Local\Yandex\YandexBrowser\Application\browser.exe
Under the application icon, click Options.
Select High performance.

Using Chromecast

Using the Yandex Browser beta version, you can stream videos to a TV that supports Chromecast technology.

Requirements

A TV with built-in Chromecast.
Note. Most modern TVs have a built-in Chromecast feature.
The Google Chromecast media player (for TVs without built-in Chromecast). The TV must have an HDMI input.
A Wi-Fi connection.

A computer that meets the minimum system requirements:


	Windows	macOS	Linux
OS version	Windows 7 (or later)	macOS 10.15 (or later)	64-bit Ubuntu 14.04 (or later), Debian 8 (or later), openSUSE 13.3 (or later), and Fedora Linux 24 (or later)
Processor	Intel Core i3 (or later)	Macbook Pro 2010, Macbook Air 2011, Macbook Air 2012	Intel Core i3 (or later)
GPU	Intel HD3000 or equivalent		Intel HD3000 or equivalent


	Windows	macOS	Linux
OS version	Windows 7 (or later)	macOS 10.15 (or later)	64-bit Ubuntu 14.04 (or later), Debian 8 (or later), openSUSE 13.3 (or later), and Fedora Linux 24 (or later)
Processor	Intel Core i3 (or later)	Macbook Pro 2010, Macbook Air 2011, Macbook Air 2012	Intel Core i3 (or later)
GPU	Intel HD3000 or equivalent		Intel HD3000 or equivalent

Initial Chromecast setup

Set up Chromecast using your smartphone. After the initial setup, you can start streaming without a smartphone.

Make sure that your smartphone is connected to the same Wi-Fi network as your TV.
Install the Google Home app.
Open the app and follow the instructions.

Note. If you can't find the instructions for setting up a TV with built-in Chromecast, tap → Set up device → Set up new devices.

Connect Chromecast to your TV via the HDMI input, and to the main power source via the USB port.
Install the Google Home app.
Make sure that your Chromecast and smartphone are connected to the same Wi-Fi network.
Open the app and follow the instructions.
Note. If you can't find the instructions for setting up a TV with built-in Chromecast, tap → Set up device → Set up new devices.

Start streaming

Make sure that all devices are connected to the same Wi-Fi network.
Open the Yandex Browser beta version.
Click → Share screen.
Select the broadcast source: Active Tab, Entire screen or File.
Select the Chromecast TV from the list.

Manage video playback via Chromecast

To stop streaming, click in the SmartBox and select the device. Or close the Yandex Browser beta version.

The "Share screen" icon isn't displayed

Make sure that all devices are connected to the same Wi-Fi network.
Update Chromecast.
Update the the Yandex Browser beta version.

If you use the updated Chromecast and Yandex Browser in the same Wi-Fi network, but still don't see the icon in the SmartBox, contact support.

Chromecast isn't working

Stop and restart streaming.
Turn the Wi-Fi off and on again.
Connect to another Wi-Fi network.
Make sure that streaming from your smartphone is working. If streaming isn't working, check if the Chromecast initial setup was performed.

If the problem persists, contact support.

End of Flash support

The Flash technology was used in browsers to play multimedia files and run games. Adobe stopped supporting and distributing it in 2021.

Most sites already use other content playback formats, such as HTML5 or WebGL. These open source technologies are faster and more stable, significantly safer than Flash, and use less power.

If you visit a site that uses Flash, contact its support.

Video problems

Videos don't play; they download to my computer

If a site owner doesn't allow you to open a file in your browser, the file downloads to the user's computer. To open it in Yandex Browser, drag the downloaded file icon that appears 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 Yandex Browser displays a black screen instead of a video, the image shakes in online games, or 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 Yandex Browser extensions

Open → Extensions and turn off all extensions.
If this solves your problem, go through your extensions and turn them back on until you find the one that caused the problem.
Disable the problematic extension. You may want to let the developers know about the problem.
Clear your cache so that Yandex Browser doesn't load an incorrect copy of the page that was saved earlier.

Change your hardware acceleration settings

Try turning the hardware accelerator on or off:

Click → Settings → System.
If the Use hardware acceleration if possible option is selected in the Performance section, deselect it. If the option is deselected, select it.
Close the Browser with a keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Shift + Q (on Windows and Linux) or ⌘ + Q (in macOS).
Restart the browser to apply these changes.

Check whether this solved the problem.

Update your video card drivers

Click Start → Dashboard → Device dispatcher.
Open Video Adapters: a list of video cards will appear.
Right-click the name of your video card.
In the context menu, select Update drivers.

Check whether this solved the problem.

If the problem persists, write to us. 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 content protected by copyright doesn't play:

Update and restart Yandex Browser

An outdated version of Yandex Browser may not support the technology required for fast video loading. Install the latest update of the Yandex Browser beta version .

When you launch Yandex 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 Yandex Browser and the plugins will connect automatically.

Allow protected content to play

Click → Settings → Websites.
Scroll down the page and click Advanced site settings.
Under Protected content, enable the Allow protected content to play option.
Some services use unique device identifiers to protect content. To activate them, go to Identifiers of protected content and enable Allow sites to use identifiers to play protected content (Windows only).

The browser doesn't support NPAPI and Unity

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.

On Linux, video doesn't work in Yandex Browser

If an HTML5 video or a video that has protected content doesn't play:

Check your browser's version.
If the version is lower than 23.3.0, update your browser.

Install the packages with GStreamer by running the commands:

Mint

sudo apt install libgstreamer1.0-0 gstreamer1.0-plugins-base gstreamer1.0-plugins-good gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad-faad gstreamer1.0-libav
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Ubuntu

sudo apt install libgstreamer1.0-0 gstreamer1.0-plugins-base gstreamer1.0-plugins-good gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad gstreamer1.0-libav
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Astra Linux

sudo apt-get install ffmpeg-plugin-browser libgstreamer1.0-0 gstreamer1.0-plugins-base gstreamer1.0-plugins-good gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad-faad gstreamer1.0-libav
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Alt Linux

su -lc 'apt-get install gstreamer1.0 gst-plugins-base1.0 gst-plugins-good1.0 gst-plugins-bad1.0 gst-libav'
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Red OS

dnf install gstreamer1 gstreamer1-plugins-base gstreamer1-plugins-good gstreamer1-plugins-good-extras gstreamer1-plugins-bad-free gstreamer1-plugins-bad-free-extras gstreamer1-libav
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yum install gstreamer1 gstreamer1-plugins-base gstreamer1-plugins-good gstreamer1-plugins-good-extras gstreamer1-plugins-bad-free gstreamer1-plugins-bad-free-extras gstreamer1-libav
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ROSA “COBALT” 7.9

dnf install libgstreamer1.0 gstreamer1.0-plugins-base gstreamer1.0-plugins-good gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad gstreamer1.0-libav
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AlterOS

yum install gstreamer1 gstreamer1-plugins-base gstreamer1-plugins-good gstreamer1-plugins-good-extras gstreamer1-plugins-bad-free gstreamer1-plugins-bad-free-extras gstreamer1-libav
Copied to clipboard

OpenSUSE

sudo zypper install gstreamer gstreamer-plugins-base gstreamer-plugins-good gstreamer-plugins-bad gstreamer-plugins-libav
Copied to clipboard

Restart the Browser. If this does not help, close it and run the command in the console:
```
rm ~/.cache/gstreamer-1.0/registry.x86_64.bin
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```

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

When you go to certain sites, videos start playing automatically. Unfortunately, Yandex Browser has no way to restrict video autoplay on sites.

Browser doesn't see the webcam

Check if other programs recognize the camera.

If not, make sure that your camera driver is installed correctly, and reinstall it if necessary:
1. Click Start → Dashboard → Device dispatcher.
2. Open Camera: a list of cameras will appear.
3. Right-click the name of your camera.
4. In the context menu, select Update drivers.
If they can, specify it manually in the Yandex Browser settings:
1. Click → Settings → Websites.
2. Open Advanced site settings.
3. In the Access to your camera section, select your camera and enable Ask permission.
If this doesn't help, contact Yandex Browser support.

“Required video codecs not found” error in Windows

If a video does not play on the site and the “No video codecs detected” message appears, this means that you have a Windows N/KN version that does not have the necessary video codecs.

Check your Windows version:

Click Start → Settings → System.
Find the Windows version in the About section. For example, “Windows 10 Pro N”.

Select the Windows version:

Not Windows N/KNWindows 7 N/KNWindows 8 N/KNWindows 8.1 N/KNWindows 10 N/KN

Write to us using the form.

Close Yandex Browser. To do this, click → Advanced → Close Yandex Browser or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Shift + Q.
Restart Yandex Browser and check whether the video plays.