You wanted to watch a video on YouTube. You clicked the video on YouTube and a video player popped up. You were waiting for the video to load and play. But after a while you found that there was nothing playing on your screen. The YouTube video player was black!
In fact, this is a quite common problem — many YouTube users have got this “YouTube videos black screen” issue. Sometimes they can’t see any image appearing for a while. But in many cases the problem lasts for the whole length!
You may be very frustrated when you get this issue! You can’t enjoy the YouTube videos at all! And perhaps you are anxiously doing research on the Internet in the hope of fixing this issue as quickly as possible.
But don’t worry. The following are several methods that are really useful for fixing your problem. They have helped many users get their YouTube videos back, and now they may be able to help you. Just give them a try! (You may not have to try them all; just work your way down until you find the one that works for you.)
Method 1: Sign out of your YouTube (Google) account
Method 2: Refresh the page or restart your web browser
Method 3: Check the status of your network connection
Method 4: Clear your browsing data
Method 5: Disable your browser extensions
Method 6: Disable hardware acceleration
Method 7: Update your web browser
Method 8: Test with another browser
Method 1: Sign out of your YouTube (Google) account
The YouTube black screen issue often occurs when a user is watching the video with his or her account logged on. You can try signing out of your account and see if the video can play normally. To sign out, click the Account icon in the upper right corner of the YouTube page and then click Sign out.
If this method works for you, you won’t see the black screen on your YouTube video player again.
Method 2: Refresh the page or restart your web browser
Sometimes your YouTube videos become black because something tiny on your browser is temporarily going wrong. It may be fixed by simply refreshing the page. Click the Reload button or icon on your web browser or press F5 on your keyboard to reload the video page. Then see if the video can play normally.
If the problem persists, you can try closing and reopening your web browser. This can also help you get rid of the issues on your browser thoroughly. Restart your web browser and open the YouTube video again. Then see if the problem resolves.
Method 3: Check the status of your network connection
You may be experiencing this issue if your network connection status is bad. There are a few things you need to try…
I. Use a VPN
Try using a VPN. This helps you get around issues you may be experiencing with the local Internet connection.
You can do this manually if you have your own VPN server and the skills to set up the connection. But if not, we recommend using NordVPN.
NordVPN provides secure, fast and stable connections, and it’s very easy to use. To use it:
- Download and install NordVPN.
- Run NordVPN, then choose a location you want to connect to.
II. Check your Internet usage
Check all the programs on your computer and all the other devices that are connected to the same network. Disable the network connection of the program or device that are slowing down your network.
III. Check to see if your Internet connection is working properly
Make sure your Internet connection is working properly. Check out this post to troubleshoot any Internet issues.
After that, reload your YouTube video and see if this fixes your black screen issue.
Method 4: Clear your browsing data
The cache and history data on your browser can cause your YouTube videos to become black. They may have been piling up and made your browser get stuck or interfered with your browser. They can also change your browser settings and stop it from working well. These are all possible causes of your YouTube or other issues. So it is suggested that you clear the browsing data on your browser. If you are using Google Chrome or Firefox, you can clear these data by following the steps below.*
* Note that this will clear all your browsing history, passwords and preferences on your browser. And you will need to re-enter your data and re-adjust your preferences when you access all websites you have visited.
1) Press Ctrl, Shift and Delete keys (on the keyboard) at the same time. A data clearing window will pop up.
2) Clear all browsing data on your web browser:
i. Set the time range to cover from when you started to use your browser till now.
ii. Select all the items to clear.
iii. Clear them all.
3) Check to see if you are able to watch videos on YouTube.
Method 5: Disable your browser extensions
Sometimes the extensions of your browser can interfere with your YouTube videos playback, especially those ad blocking extensions. You can try disabling them temporarily and see if the problem is fixed. Follow the steps below to check and disable extensions on your web browsers (Google Chrome and Firefox specifically).
1) Open the extensions settings:
i. On Google Chrome, type “chrome://extensions” in the address bar and then press Enter on your keyboard.
ii. On Firefox, click the menu button in the upper right corner and then click Add-ons.
2) Disable the ad blocking extension, such as Adblock or Adblock Plus, in the extensions settings on your web browser:
i. On Google Chrome, clear the check box of Enabled next to your ad blocking extension to disable it.
ii. On Firefox, click the Disable button to disable your ad blocking extension.
3) Open a YouTube video and see if it plays normally.
4) If the problem still exists, disable the remaining extensions using the method in step 2. Disable these extensions one at a time (check if you can play your YouTube video before you go on disabling next). Work your way down the list of extensions until you identify the one that causes your problem.
If this method can resolve your problem, contact those who offer this extension and ask them for suggestions, or install an alternative solution.
Method 6: Disable hardware acceleration
Hardware acceleration means assigning some processing tasks to purpose-specified computer hardware like GPU, instead of your CPU. This can boost the performance of related software.
But hardware acceleration can sometimes bring about unexpected issues. If you have enabled hardware acceleration on your web browser, the YouTube videos may not be able to play normally. So, you can try disabling hardware acceleration on your browsers and see if this works for you.
(The steps below show you how to disable hardware acceleration on Chrome and Firefox)
A. If you are a Google Chrome user:
B: If you are using Firefox:
After you restart your browser, play a YouTube video and see if this method works.
Method 7: Update your web browser
Your YouTube videos black screen problem may occur because your web browser is out of date. It may still be using the Adobe Flash Player plug-in, which is not supported by YouTube, and can sometimes bring about issues with playing videos. Or perhaps some configuration or features on your old web browser are messing with the YouTube player.
To prevent any YouTube videos playing issue on your computer, you should avoid using an old web browser. To update your browser, uninstall it at first. Then go to its official website, and download its latest version and install it on your computer. After that, check to see if it fixes your YouTube videos black screen issue.
Method 8: Test with another browser
Sometimes you may need a different browser. Perhaps the web browser you are using right now is incompatible with the YouTube web player. Maybe its configuration, extensions or plugins (like Adobe Flash Player mentioned above) are preventing those videos from playing.
You can download and install a different browser from its official site onto your computer. Then play a YouTube video on that browser and see if this fixes your black screen issue. If this helps, you may need to consult your browser support and ask them for advice.
