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RealPlayer download feature not working in Firefox (but works in IE)

  • 12 replies
  • 164 have this problem
  • 11 views
  • Last reply by mathman

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Realplayer download feature (cursor over a youtube video, "download this video" pops up) has recently quit working for me (I've been using it for months). I've searched knowledge bases and forums extensively and tried all the suggestions., such as rolling back from Flash Player 11.5 to 10.3 (no luck), disabling/enabling RealPlayer Download plugin in Firefox (no luck), etc. The one suggestion I'd like to try but can't is going into RealPlayer preferences and enabling/disabling the "Download and Record" function. I can't because all I have in my preferences is "Recording" and the options have nothing to do with downloading. None of the RealNetworks/RealPlayer support sites are helpful at all...

However, the download feature works just fine in Internet Explorer

Realplayer download feature (cursor over a youtube video, "download this video" pops up) has recently quit working for me (I've been using it for months). I've searched knowledge bases and forums extensively and tried all the suggestions., such as rolling back from Flash Player 11.5 to 10.3 (no luck), disabling/enabling RealPlayer Download plugin in Firefox (no luck), etc. The one suggestion I'd like to try but can't is going into RealPlayer preferences and enabling/disabling the "Download and Record" function. I can't because all I have in my preferences is "Recording" and the options have nothing to do with downloading. None of the RealNetworks/RealPlayer support sites are helpful at all... However, the download feature works just fine in Internet Explorer

All Replies (12)

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There are known issues with Firefox and Realplayer and there is no guaranteed fix for this. There are many things you can try to make it work again; Here they are: 1. Uninstall Realplayer and reinstalling it again OR uninstall Realplayer, reboot your computer and then install it. 2. Check and see if there are any add-ons causing it not to work (see 'safe mode' instructions below) 3. You can try a clean reinstall (see clean reinstall instructions below)


Try the Firefox Safe Mode to see how it works there. The Safe Mode is a troubleshooting mode, which disables most add-ons.

(If you're not using it, switch to the Default theme.)

  • You can open the Firefox 4.0+ Safe Mode by holding the Shift key when you use the Firefox desktop or Start menu shortcut.
  • Or use the Help menu item and click on the Restart with Add-ons Disabled... menu item while Firefox is running.

Don't select anything right now, just use "'Start in Safe Mode" To exit the Firefox Safe Mode, just close Firefox and wait a few seconds before using the Firefox shortcut (without the Shift key) to open it again. If it is good in the Firefox Safe Mode, your problem is probably caused by an extension, and you need to figure out which one.

Please follow the Troubleshoot extensions, themes and hardware acceleration issues to solve common Firefox problems article for that.

When you figure out what's causing your issues, please let us know. It might help other users who have the same problem.


Certain Firefox problems can be solved by performing a Clean reinstall. This means you remove Firefox and any leftover program files and then reinstall Firefox. Please follow these steps one by one:

  1. Download the latest Desktop version of Firefox from http://www.mozilla.org and save the setup file to your computer.
  2. After the download finishes, close all Firefox windows (click Exit from the Firefox or File menu) and confirm all upcoming messages.
  3. Now, uninstall Firefox by following the steps mentioned in the Uninstall Firefox article.

IMPORTANT: On Windows, the uninstaller has the option to remove your personal data and settings. Make sure that you do not check this option; otherwise all of your bookmarks, passwords, extensions, user customizations and other Firefox user profile data will be removed from your computer.

After uninstalling Firefox on Windows, delete the "Mozilla Firefox" program folder, located by default in one of these locations:

  • (On 32-bit Windows) C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox
  • (On 64-bit Windows) C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox
  1. Go to the Windows Start menu and click on "Computer".
  2. In the Explorer window that opens, double click Local Disk (C:) to open the C:\ drive.
  3. Find the "Program Files (x86)" folder or "Program Files" folder.
    • On 32-bit Windows, double-click the Program Files folder to open it.
    • On 64-bit Windows, you will see a "Program Files (x86)" folder AND a "Program Files" folder. Open the Program Files (x86) folder.
  4. Look for a Mozilla Firefox folder. If you find one, right-click it and select Delete and confirm that you want to move the folder to the Recycle Bin.

Now, go ahead and reinstall Firefox:

  1. Double-click the downloaded installation file and go through the steps of the installation wizard.
  2. Once the wizard is finished, choose to directly open Firefox after clicking the Finish button.

Please report back to see if this helped you!

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The bottom line is RealPlayer is prone to fail with Firefox. It can work for a while, but as soon as the browser and/or Flash are given a new update, that all goes out the window... the default from most people is also that VLC is a better player, despite the fact they don't have a "streaming video downloader" feature, which is what most users (including me) use RealPlayer for more than anything.

I don't see any company providing support, since capturing streaming video from places like YouTube is actually illegal.

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I had the same problem. After the automatic update of Fire Fox, download pop-up was gone. My lap-top drives on Windows XP3. From the control panel/add-delete programs I deleted Real player, with the search files function in Windows explorer I located all files with "real" in the name which remained after deletion and manually deleted all of them in the C/Program Files, and elsewhere, when I was certain, that file relates to the Real Player program. Then I restarted the system, downloaded and installed Adobe Flash player through Internet explorer (once Flash player add-on, installed in Internet explorer was obvious for proper function of Real Player itself), "alchemistically" downloaded and installed it again through Fire Fox and finally downloaded and installed Real Player. Why, I am not sure, but now it works again. P.S.:When I tested new situation,, I remember, the pop-up appeared immediately, after I have chosen Real player as default player in MMC portal of national TV company. Untill as default was Adobe flash player, pop-up didn't want to emerge. Afterward I tested You Tube, and everything was OK.

Modified by BonLavdon

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I have the RealDownloader Firefox plug-in and heard about other programs interfering with it, so I had disabled the YouTube to MP3 plug-in. That was a mistake. Once I enabled the YouTube to MP3 plug-in and restarted Firefox, the Download This Video button appeared again. Good luck!

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RealPlayer download had been working until I got the latest version of Firefox. Now it is not. I can use Chrome to capture what I want. These videos are not from YouTube.

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Earlier versions of RealPlayer seem to be the only answer - after version 15.05.109, the software doesn't work properly on all systems because of the way they've separated the downloader from their video player, so I disabled the autoupdate feature altogether once it was installed.

There aren't a lot of websites RealPlayer will download videos from other than YouTube, as it was designed primarily for there and, previously, Google Video, until the companies merged and changed thei privacy settings.

A good program for YouTube is Freemake Video Downloader; if, however, you are trying to download from Dailymotion, you need the aptly-named downloader from Mozilla's plugin database. Please note these plugins will periodically stop working... websites like YouTube and DailyMotion don't actually want people to download videos at all, so you may need to regularly check the plugin's website for updates.

Modified by Hyncharas

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Change your browser. In Chrome and IE RealDownloader works. For Firefox soon will not work no additive. I I move all the other browsers. In Firefox I can not even have a favorite theme because it is not compatible. It used to be one of the best browsers. It is one of the worst.

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One of the other suggestions was to include ant.com as an add on to Firefox. That worked.

I don't like Chrome because its user interface is (to me) very ubfriendly.

I use Avant as a front end for IE - better user inteface.

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The Download feature is working again ... however, Youtube seems to be ...uhmmm, "messing" with it's platform. More recently uploaded videos are in the mp4 format (as opposed to the flv format) ... depending on who, what or whatever uploaded it the downloaded mp4 doesn't always play in RealPlayer, no video and no audio. I have older mp4's downloaded that play fine, but recent ones don't. And it doesn't seem to be RealPlayers problem or Firefox... it stems from Youtube.

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Realplayer download does not work in Firefox. Someone suggested ant.com as an add-on. That works.

For youtube I use YTD downloader (a youtube product). It is more reliable for youtube videos.

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DVDVideoSoft provides a youtube downloader that works; I suggest everybody use that for the foreseeable future.

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Youtube has a downloader that works fine. The question I was raising had to do with streaming videos from any source.