While most websites are getting away from Flash, there are still certain websites that feature Flash Videos and you may feel like watching them. Hence, we are providing below the steps to fix the problem of Flash Videos Not Playing on Mac in Safari Browser.
Flash Videos Not Playing on Mac
The problem of Flash Videos not playing on Mac is related to macOS not being readily compatible with Adobe Flash Player and it can be fixed by tweaking certain browser settings to make Flash Videos run on Mac.
In general, you should be able to fix the problem of Flash Videos not playing on Mac using the following methods.
- Install Adobe Flash Player
- Enable Flash in Web browser
- Enable JavaScript in Web browser
- Disable Popup Blocking
- Clear Browser Cache
- Uninstall/Reinstall Adobe Flash Player
Note: YouTube does not use Flash and you should not have any problem Playing YouTube Videos on Mac using either Safari or Chrome Browsers.
If there is problem playing YouTube Videos, make sure that you have the latest version of Safari and Chrome Browsers installed on your Mac.
1. Install Adobe Flash Player on Mac
In order to play Flash Videos, the latest version of Adobe Flash Player needs to be available on your Mac. If it is not, you can go ahead and download and Install the latest version Adobe Flash Player on your Mac from Adobe’s official Flash Player Page.
Note: Make sure you install Flash Player from Adobe’s official website and not from any other website.
2. Enable Flash in Safari Browser
Even after installing Adobe Flash Player, you may still find Flash Videos not playing on Mac. This is due to the default setting in Safari browser, which only allows Flash to be enabled on a site-by-site basis.
This can be fixed by going to Safari Preferences screen and enabling Flash Player in the Plug-ins section.
1. Open Safari browser > click on Safari tab in the top menu and select Preferences in the drop-down menu.
2. On the next screen, go to Websites tab and make sure Adobe Flash Player Plugin is selected for the website.
At the bottom right corner, you will see the option to enable Flash when visiting other websites. For security reasons, it is recommended that you stick to the default option of enabling Flash on a Site-by-site basis.
3. Enable JavaScript in Safari Browser
In order to play Flash Videos, you also need JavaScript to be enabled in the web browser. Hence, make sure that JavaScript is enabled in Safari Browser on your Mac.
1. Click on Safari tab in the top menu and select Preferences in the drop-down menu.
2. On the next screen, go to Security tab and check Enable JavaScript option.
4. Disable Pop-up Blocking in Safari Browser
Certain websites won’t allow you to play videos, unless you disable the option to block Pop-ups in your web browser. You can try to disable pop-up blocking for that particular website and see if you are able to play Videos.
1. Click on Safari tab in the top menu and select Preferences in the drop-down menu.
2. On the next screen, go to the Security tab and uncheck Block pop-up windows option.
5. Clear Browser Cache
If the Flash Videos are still not playing, it is likely that your web browser is loading old cached pages, instead of downloading the latest ones.
However, the option to clear browser cache is not available by default in Safari browser and needs to be specifically enabled on your Mac. Hence, it is recommended that you take a look at this guide: How to Clear Safari Browser Cache on Mac.
6. Uninstall/Reinstall Adobe Flash Player
This fix can work if the version of Adobe Flash Player as installed on your Mac has become corrupted or outdated.
Download Flash Player Uninstaller for Mac from Adobe’s official website and follow the instructions to uninstall Flash Player on your Mac.
After removing Flash Player, restart the computer, download the latest version of Adobe Flash Player from Adobe’s official website and install it on your Mac.