How to Remove Firefox 33.0 plugin “OpenH264 Video Codec…?

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I have upgraded to Firefox 33.0. In the Plugins there is this plugin “OpenH264 Video Codec Provided by Cisci systems, inc. 1.1” showing. There is a bar above it that says it will install later, but never does install.
I would like to remove this plugin. I can use the tab to disable it, but I would like for it to be gone….How do I do it?
Thank you for any help to do this.

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I upgraded my FF to v33.0 and Norton told me OpenH264 was safe, so I assumed it installed as I don’t have any bar or it showing on the home page to disable it.

It isn’t listed in FF’s Plug-ins in the registry so I can only assume that it is part of FF, but don’t know why Norton should have needed to check it out.

I think the only way you could actually get rid of it would be to revert to the older FF version – unless someone has a better idea.

It doesn’t affect me as I only have FF installed as secondary browser and use IE 10 as my main one.

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Sudo15, does it show up under Tools/Add-ons/Plugins as a plugin? This is where it shows up on my computer, showing “waiting to install error tab” on top of the plugin name.

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Sudo15, does it show up under Tools/Add-ons/Plugins as a plugin? This is where it shows up on my computer, showing “waiting to install error tab” on top of the plugin name.

It is in Add-ons – I think I went straight to check if the add-ons were showing as up to date after updating Flash Player where this isn’t displayed as an add-on and it still isn’t showing in the registry/Mozilla Plug-ins or Program Files (x86).

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Is this related? — I updated to FF 33.0, also updated Shockwave Flash to 15.0.0.189, and suddenly Add-ons contain this unexpected unknown unrequested OpenH264 Video Codec by Cisco Systems, Inc. 1.1. Now I’m unable to get videos that are apparently embedded in webpages — there’s just a big blank space where it seems the video would be. I’m mystified. This seems to be the case whether I leave this plug-in’s option as “Always Activate” or switch it to “Never Activate” (= disabled) — there seems to be no intermediate option (i.e., “Ask to Activate”). I don’t know if either of these updates is what caused the problem or not. ?? (PC is HP ProBook 4540s, 64-bit, with Win7 Professional, SP 1). Also, do I need this codec? Mozilla describes it as open source BSD, thus supposedly a useful advantage — but I don’t know if I need to configure it somehow, or if so, how to do that.
— Any help much appreciated.

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An explanation of H264.
http://blogs.cisco.com/collaboration/open-source-h-264-removes-barriers-webrtc/

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An explanation of H264.
http://blogs.cisco.com/collaboration/open-source-h-264-removes-barriers-webrtc/

— Calimanco: I skimmed thru the explanation thread you recommended, discussion Oct. thru Dec. 2013 — and I also read Mozilla’s blog post about the codec — but I’m still confused, and still wonder if that’s what’s causing the blank spaces instead of embedded and clickable videos on websites I visit now, all of a sudden? Or would it be something else in FF 33.0, or something else related to the Flash update to v 15.0.0.189, or something else entirely? (I’m not familiar enough with developer-speak and developer details to be able to relate what I’ve read there to what’s appeared in my Add-ons (and what’s disappeared on websites I’m visiting now via links from other websites and pages).
The plug-in does appear in my FF Add-ons. I don’t feel competent to mess w/ the registry, tho, don’t wanna risk it. Any advice? Any harm if I simply uninstall H264 codec? Is it even possible to uninstall?

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I’ve had none of the problems with H264 that you enumerate, so probably its not directly related. Go to Tools>Add ons>Plugins and click on “Check to see if your plug ins are up to date”. Look at your installed plug ins and extensions. Are there any there that shouldn’t be? The latest Flash is 15.0.0.189 and there is a JAVA update to SE8 U25 11.25.2.18.

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I’ve had none of the problems with H264 that you enumerate, so probably its not directly related. Go to Tools>Add ons>Plugins and click on “Check to see if your plug ins are up to date”. Look at your installed plug ins and extensions. Are there any there that shouldn’t be? The latest Flash is 15.0.0.189 and there is a JAVA update to SE8 U25 11.25.2.18.

Thanks Calimanco — I did check, plug-ins & extensions all register as up to date, including that latest Flash (…189) which I had just updated along w/ FF 33.0 — I thought the Flash update might also be a possible culprit re my problem if not this unwanted H264 (a PUP or Actual UP?!). I have Java disabled (via QuickJava 2.0.4 Add-on extension), on advice from a year or so ago when Java was reported to be unstable or risky. (Javascript is enabled.)
I do have AdBlock Plus, up to date, but that shouldn’t cause my problem now since nothing on that is different from before.
Couldn’t find enough info on Mozilla pages to understand if I really need H264 or not. Will try reverting to previous FF version per suggestion from GiddyUpGo and see if that makes a difference.

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I have always been able to remove plugins from the FF plugins, but this is different.
I have tried everything I can find but this plugin is not even listed anywhere I have found except showing up in the FF plugins, and then showing “Waiting to Install” message, which never changes.
That is my problem…I still would like to remove the message and this plugin.
Anyone know how?
KatMsu, try going back to the FF 32 version just to see if this will let you view your videos. This plugin is installed when you update FF to V33.0.

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Some web sites say OpenH264 Video Codec Ads is a PUP
However some of those sites maybe questionable. i will look at this on my new box w/ ff33 but need to refind the takownership thread here.

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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Some web sites say OpenH264 Video Codec Ads is a PUP
However some of those sites maybe questionable.

does it look like this38185-openh264-video-codec

fromhttp://www.ghacks.net/2014/07/18/firefox-openh264-gecko-media-plugins-current-state-development/

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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I too noticed this OpenH264 Video Codec after Firefox updated. I let it enable itself and found that my browsing experience and browsers were load slow or just froze. I then disabled it and everything is back to normal. So, for me I’ll just leave it disabled.

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Wavy thank you!
This is the Image I have on my computer.

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Ok guys, I have found a way to remove this plugin from the FF Plugins. Atlease it no longer shows up in the tools/add-ons/plugins.
Open About:config
Search for 264
Toggle
media.peerconnection.video.h264_enabled
from true to false.

Thanks to the “http://www.ghacks.net/2014/07/18/fir…e-development/” article that Wavy sent me.
The article stated that this had to be toggled to true to show…..Well… toggle to false will hide it!

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Ok guys, I have found a way to remove this plugin from the FF Plugins. Atlease it no longer shows up in the tools/add-ons/plugins.
Open About:config
Search for 264
Toggle
media.peerconnection.video.h264_enabled
from true to false.

Thanks to the “http://www.ghacks.net/2014/07/18/fir…e-development/” article that Wavy sent me.
The article stated that this had to be toggled to true to show…..Well… toggle to false will hide it!

Thanks to Wavy, GiddyUpGo, & bassfisher6522.
Wavy — Your screenshot looked llike what I have except w/o the yellow “will be installed shortly,” so I guess it was indeed installed.
bassfisher6522 — I did set it to “Never Activate” before, which disabled the plug-in, but my problem persisted of blank space where video should be embedded on websites.
GiddyUG — Will try toggling H264 to “false” before trying to go back to FF 32.x to see if it makes a difference in my own problem. I would still like to uninstall it, tho, if it’s not a necessary add-on for anything I do.
Anyone know if Mozilla put this on FF 33.0 because it *is* somehow necessary for everyone using this FF version now?

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Thanks to Wavy, GiddyUpGo, & bassfisher6522.
Wavy — Your screenshot looked llike what I have except w/o the yellow “will be installed shortly,” so I guess it was indeed installed.
bassfisher6522 — I did set it to “Never Activate” before, which disabled the plug-in, but my problem persisted of blank space where video should be embedded on websites.
GiddyUG — Will try toggling H264 to “false” before trying to go back to FF 32.x to see if it makes a difference in my own problem. I would still like to uninstall it, tho, if it’s not a necessary add-on for anything I do.
Anyone know if Mozilla put this on FF 33.0 because it *is* somehow necessary for everyone using this FF version now?

I disabled H264 under pluggins and the about:config settings all toggled to false. So far I have not found any reason to use this plugin.
I keep saved versions of Firefox, so going back to the previous versions is just reinstalling the version I want over the current one. Sometimes I make a new Profile.
I have seen in searching the internet, that you are not the only one having this problem with blank screens. Maybe Firefox will correct this?

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Thanks to Wavy, GiddyUpGo, & bassfisher6522.
Wavy — Your screenshot looked llike what I have except w/o the yellow “will be installed shortly,” so I guess it was indeed installed.
bassfisher6522 — I did set it to “Never Activate” before, which disabled the plug-in, but my problem persisted of blank space where video should be embedded on websites.
GiddyUG — Will try toggling H264 to “false” before trying to go back to FF 32.x to see if it makes a difference in my own problem. I would still like to uninstall it, tho, if it’s not a necessary add-on for anything I do.
Anyone know if Mozilla put this on FF 33.0 because it *is* somehow necessary for everyone using this FF version now?

Katmuse:
Firefox released Version 33.0.1 today. They state it will fix the blank black screens.

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Ok guys, I have found a way to remove this plugin from the FF Plugins. Atlease it no longer shows up in the tools/add-ons/plugins.
Open About:config
Search for 264
Toggle
media.peerconnection.video.h264_enabled
from true to false.

Thanks to the “http://www.ghacks.net/2014/07/18/fir…e-development/” article that Wavy sent me.
The article stated that this had to be toggled to true to show…..Well… toggle to false will hide it!

I followed these instructions out of curiosity and while it didn’t remove it from Add-ons, it’s now greyed out.

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I followed these instructions out of curiosity and while it didn’t remove it from Add-ons, it’s now greyed out.

Sudo15 — Mine also greyed out when I checked option “Never Activate,” and now says Disabled. My problem seems to have gone away now, so maybe that did the trick after all.
Thanks to all for help & suggestions.

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Sudo15 — Mine also greyed out when I checked option “Never Activate,” and now says Disabled. My problem seems to have gone away now, so maybe that did the trick after all.
Thanks to all for help & suggestions.

Oops — no, I spoke too soon. Problem is back again.
How do I revert to immediately previous version of FF? (32.x — whatever the last one was before 33.0 downloaded a few days ago?)

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I followed these instructions out of curiosity and while it didn’t remove it from Add-ons, it’s now greyed out.

On My Computer, there is nothing under my plugins, it is gone. I did uncheck all true to false under the about:config. Maybe this is the difference?

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This add-on is obviously causing problems that neither Cisco or Mozilla envisaged and the only way to contact Mozilla Support is through their forum https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/get-community-support?redirectlocale=en-US&redirectslug=ask although you can give feedback in the next linked article, but don’t know if you would get a response from that.

This article has the link for v32.0.3 which was the last before v33.0, although it advises against rolling back because of possible security issues https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/install-older-version-of-firefox

I would think you would need to uninstall v33.0 before downloading v32.

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Can some one provide me w/ links to non working video?

I find it interesting that the update link for OpenH264 Video Codec in addons does not seem to do anything. The plugin check page does not recognize OpenH264 Video Codec as a plugin (not really surprising as Moz says it is not really a plugin.) Codecs, the little I know of them are strange and mysterious beasts :huh: Glad I’m still on Ver 10 of FF

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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Can some one provide me w/ links to non working video?

I find it interesting that the update link for OpenH264 Video Codec in addons does not seem to do anything. The plugin check page does not recognize OpenH264 Video Codec as a plugin (not really surprising as Moz says it is not really a plugin.) Codecs, the little I know of them are strange and mysterious beasts :huh: Glad I’m still on Ver 10 of FF

Wavy: Apologies for the delay — hope this thread is still alive. Here’s one link as an example: . I’m able to get the video in IE 11, but not in FF 33.0. Also am having trouble getting complete pages on a friend’s blogspot blog via FF 33.0, but they come thru OK on IE 11. I’d prefer to use FF when I can, would like to resolve the problem if possible. If the problem is v.33.0 itself, I’d like to know how to roll back to the immediately preceding v 32.x, if possible. Thanks for help …

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Wavy: Apologies for the delay — hope this thread is still alive. Here’s one link as an example: . I’m able to get the video in IE 11, but not in FF 33.0. Also am having trouble getting complete pages on a friend’s blogspot blog via FF 33.0, but they come thru OK on IE 11. I’d prefer to use FF when I can, would like to resolve the problem if possible. If the problem is v.33.0 itself, I’d like to know how to roll back to the immediately preceding v 32.x, if possible. Thanks for help …

See the second link in my Post #19 for FF v32.0.3.

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See the second link in my Post #19 for FF v32.0.3.

Thanks, Sudo15. I downloaded v.32.0.3 now, may install it, altho I’m a bit leery if there’s a possible security risk — if security improvements in the update to v. 33 are important or critical, as a few indicate they are…

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They say you should always use the most up to date version of your browser but if that causes problems then you either revert or use another browser and I’ve come across others still using much earlier versions of FF than the pre-updated one.

I have to use IE 10 because of compatibility problems when using IE 11 but as MS still support it with WUs, I should remain reasonably safe.

I also use the free HitmanPro.Alert (which includes CryptoGuard) to protect my browsers so if you find v32.0.3 is the only viable version for you, then use it and install HitmanPro.Alert as an added measure.

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They say you should always use the most up to date version of your browser but if that causes problems then you either revert or use another browser and I’ve come across others still using much earlier versions of FF than the pre-updated one.

I have to use IE 10 because of compatibility problems when using IE 11 but as MS still support it with WUs, I should remain reasonably safe.

I also use the free HitmanPro.Alert (which includes CryptoGuard) to protect my browsers so if you find v32.0.3 is the only viable version for you, then use it and install HitmanPro.Alert as an added measure.

Thank you Sudio15 for this link. Looks like a keeper!

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I followed these instructions out of curiosity and while it didn’t remove it from Add-ons, it’s now greyed out.

On My Computer, there is nothing under my plugins, it is gone. I did uncheck all true to false under the about:config 264 reference. Maybe this is the difference?

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Thanks for that – I’ll update mine although I only use FF as a spare or troubleshooting browser.

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I have upgraded to Firefox 33.0. In the Plugins there is this plugin “OpenH264 Video Codec Provided by Cisci systems, inc. 1.1” showing. There is a bar above it that says it will install later, but never does install.
I would like to remove this plugin. I can use the tab to disable it, but I would like for it to be gone….How do I do it?
Thank you for any help to do this.

hey
download http://ciscobinary.openh264.org/openh264-win32-v1.1-Firefox33.zip and extract this. now you see these files [ gmpopenh264.dll & gmpopenh264.info ]
go to : C:Users…AppDataRoamingMozillaFirefoxProfiles
and create these folders :
9rv5ofs4.defaultgmp-gmpopenh2641.1
and then copy those two files in here!

plugin will be installed correctly!

38537-2014-11-26-13-35-37-8ba63b

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Hadi, got the zip! Let me try this out…

"Take care of thy backups and thy restores shall take care of thee." Ben Franklin, revisted

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9rv5ofs4.defaultgmp-gmpopenh2641.1
for beginners, might be better to post this:
go to: 9rv5ofs4.default – is my [Hadi’s] default, yours will be different
make folder named gmp-gmpopenh264 — go into that folder
make folder named 1.1 — go into that folder
copy the two files gmpopenh264.dll & gmpopenh264.info into the 1.1 folder
I checked mine, already have the above

"Take care of thy backups and thy restores shall take care of thee." Ben Franklin, revisted

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OpenH264 plugin is not a real addon/plugin in real sense. I tactually belongs to a category called a Gecko plugin. Gecko is the rendering engine used in Firefox. Gecko actually has hundreds of plugins installed by default but this is special because this is not built by mozilla,all the other plugins are built by mozilla so not listed. Firefox officially integrated Cisco’s OpenH264 video decoder.
OpenH264 plugin is required to play HTML5 video encoded in H264 format ,for example YouTube or vimeo videos.

Nowadays all websites are trying to move away from Adobe Flash to HTML5 video.
YouTube automatically uses HTML5 player in chrome, but firefox uses Adobe Flash because firefox was not ready for H264 decoding for lack of an openly available H264 decoder and Mozilla couldnt build their own due to Patent and License issues. After much convincing Cisco open sourced a decoder after purchasing a license for building a decoder from MPEG-LA.

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