In the ever-expanding digital world, where web browsers serve as the portals to the online universe, Firefox emerges as a shining symbol of transparency, confidentiality, and personalized browsing.

One of the key new features in Firefox v113 is the enhanced picture-in-picture mode, which allows users to watch videos from the web’s most popular websites in a small window that stays on top of other apps.

Firefox ‘darker videos on YouTube’

However, amidst the positive changes, a disconcerting bug has emerged, affecting the viewing experience of YouTube users (1,2,3).

Firefox users have reported that videos on YouTube appear darker than usual, making it challenging to see details and enjoy content as intended.

Interestingly, users have noted that videos appear normal when played on other browsers or through native YouTube app. This suggests that the issue lies within the Firefox browser itself, rather than with YouTube.

This unexpected change in brightness levels can be both frustrating and jarring for those accustomed to a specific viewing experience.

Since updating to v113, videos on YouTube are way too dark. The difference between watching YouTube online, and downloading a video to watch with MPV, is very noticeable.
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when playing videos, firefox makes the videos much darker and higher contrast than the original videos, as well as maxing out the cpu on my laptop when playing video, started a day ago or so.
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It is worth noting that this issue appeared again after Firefox’s v113 update, as users have indicated that they faces similar issue a long time back (1,2,3).

Also, the problem occurs across both PC and mobile platforms indicates that it is not limited to a particular device or operating system.

Potential workaround

In the meantime, while awaiting an official fix from Firefox, users have come across a workaround to mitigate this issue.

By setting the parameters given below, they have observed that videos return to their normal brightness levels.

1. Type in about:config on your Firefox address bar.
2. Then change the setting to these:
gfx.color_management.mode = 1
gfx.color_management.rendering_intent = 2
gfx.color_management.native_srgb = true
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If the aforementioned workaround helped fix the Firefox darker videos on YouTube issue, do let us know in the comments down below.

Also, we will be updating this space once the problem is resolved so stay tuned for more information.

PiunikaWeb started as purely an investigative tech journalism website with main focus on ‘breaking’ or ‘exclusive’ news. In no time, our stories got picked up by the likes of Forbes, Foxnews, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, Engadget, The Verge, Macrumors, and many others. Want to know more about us? Head here.

Karanjot Sidhu
1024 Posts

A computer science engineer who loves tech and won't stop talking about it. Here at Piunikaweb, I mostly cover Google Pixel deals and how-tos, though you may find me covering Pixel news as well sometimes. Apart from being a nerd, i love gaming and watching movies in my free time.

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