YouTube Won’t Work in Full Screen

Posted on March 30, 2008 by Curt

Why won’t my YouTube video work when I go to full screen mode?

I struggled with this for a while.

First, make sure you have the latest version of the flash player. That didn’t fix it for me even though I didn’t have the latest.

For some reason, on my computer, Flash wouldn’t work with my video card’s hardware acceleration when changing from the small to the full screen version. So, I turned it off and I can now go to full screen mode.

Here’s how to turn off the hardware acceleration:

1. Right click on the video you are trying to watch in YouTube.
2. In the popup menu, choose Settings.
3. Click the first tab if it isn’t already selected.
4. Now, unclick Enable hardware acceleration.
5. Click the Close button.
6. Refresh the page in the browser.
7. Now, click play on the video and then click the full screen mode and see if that fixed it.

Let me know if it did!

If you want something to try it out on, you can watch Shania. You can watch her here in a better quality version using Windows media player. It goes to full screen much better than YouTube.

Good Luck!

134 thoughts on “YouTube Won’t Work in Full Screen”

Anonymous on March 31, 2008 at 2:10 pm said:

Worked for me – thank you! I’ve been trying to find a fix for a while now, so you’ve been a great help. Much appreciated! 🙂
MJ on April 4, 2008 at 8:10 pm said:

It worked, thank you so much! I’ve been trying to figure out how to fix that for a long time.
Simon Williams on April 7, 2008 at 2:42 pm said:

Yep … fixed the problem with BBC iPlayer also…. Thanks
Jeff on April 8, 2008 at 9:08 pm said:

Many thanks for your advice. I did a google search for some assistance in this matter, and found your page. Fixed the problem. Thanks again.
Vincent on April 9, 2008 at 5:57 am said:

Great find. I have my own hobbey 3d CAD business and splashed out on a quad core with high end graphics card, thought something was seriuosly wrong with my setup until I found your post! Thanks
Dmitry on April 11, 2008 at 8:09 am said:

You guys should check out silverlight (http://www.silverlight.net). Its much better and does not have this problem. The high-def video support will impress you!
kyle on April 13, 2008 at 7:57 pm said:

Thanks for this. I couldn’t figure out why it wouldn’t do it. Such an easy fix. Thanks again!
Anonymous on April 13, 2008 at 9:40 pm said:

WOW! thx it worked…and i’m so glad!
Mark on April 17, 2008 at 12:46 pm said:

Man, I’ve been downloading all sorts of drivers for days, trying to fix this problem… and your simple little solution fixed it for me.

Thanks a lot dude, keep up the good work!!
Jordan on May 1, 2008 at 5:28 am said:

thank you very much for this advice it was extremely helpful!!
Anonymous on July 14, 2008 at 10:48 am said:

thanx for the help, i was just about to pack the laptop off to the shop when i thought i would try to fix the problem myself, keep up the good work,
Ray Gun Noey on August 4, 2008 at 4:19 pm said:

Thanks so much for posting this! I was worried something was wrong with the laptop–but your solution saved me the trouble. Brilliant!
Anonymous on August 8, 2008 at 11:20 pm said:

Thank you. It would have taken me forever to figure that out.
Anonymous on August 23, 2008 at 10:56 pm said:

Been trying to fix this for ages!!!
It worked fine
Thanx alot!
Anonymous on September 1, 2008 at 3:05 pm said:

what does the hardware acceleration do anyway? does turning it off have any effects?
Anonymous on September 29, 2008 at 2:14 pm said:

This fixed it for me, my life is complete once again now I can waste away the hours on youtube. Thank you.
Marthanna on October 12, 2008 at 4:41 pm said:

Thanks for your much-needed help!
Anonymous on October 17, 2008 at 12:49 pm said:

My hero, you r brilliant….cheers
Anonymous on October 22, 2008 at 7:43 pm said:

THANK YOU!!!
Anonymous on October 29, 2008 at 11:38 am said:

thanx.!!!!!!-it workded
Anonymous on October 31, 2008 at 5:22 am said:

There is no acceleration option for me? help
Anonymous on November 2, 2008 at 9:44 am said:

thanks, it worked perfectly. that problem has been bugging me for awhile. thanks again…
Naveen on November 6, 2008 at 6:14 pm said:

hi curtis…… thanks a lot for your brilliant sugggestion….. i had downloaded the latest version of flash player then also i had problem…. now after turning off the hardwar accelaration it is working fine…. thanks a lot buddy
jessica on November 17, 2008 at 10:10 pm said:

youre amazing, i was so annoyed by the screen going small and now i am enjoying videos on videostic again, i loved your solution thank you thank you
mexaguil on November 23, 2008 at 4:15 am said:

You are my hero! thanks!
[●][Fake!][●] on December 1, 2008 at 7:54 pm said:

Thanks! it worked fine.
watching a video with youtube’s white frame was terrible.
Anonymous on December 25, 2008 at 4:37 pm said:

Thanks so much, I have been looking for a fix for a friends kid, who had his laptop today. Also I would like to wish you a Merry Christmas
Chrissy on January 3, 2009 at 7:07 pm said:

It worked!! Thanks so much!
Anonymous on January 8, 2009 at 7:21 pm said:

worked for me to thanks it was realy annoying me that i could not watch you tube in full screen
Anonymous on February 2, 2009 at 3:11 pm said:

Thank you soo much, GeekSquad couldnt even help me with this problem, atleast not the person i was talking to, thanks bunches lol
xoCAZZA on February 19, 2009 at 11:23 am said:

WOW! thanks so much! if only I knew this a few days ago..
Anonymous on February 27, 2009 at 10:39 pm said:

Your tip fixed is still helping. Thanks very much for posting. It fixed my youtube full-screen display problem!
Anonymous on March 6, 2009 at 8:09 am said:

This works weel. But, is there a way to uncheck it from ActionScript??
Anonymous on April 28, 2009 at 6:34 pm said:

many thanks for this!!!
Anonymous on April 29, 2009 at 5:30 pm said:

Excellent. You the man!
Anonymous on April 30, 2009 at 6:58 pm said:

Thanx:) I was pulling my hair out to find out why the damn thing wouldn’t go fullscreen. Worked great.
Anonymous on May 4, 2009 at 5:21 pm said:

Thanks! It made me way happy that i can use full screen now! 🙂
Amanda on May 19, 2009 at 9:51 pm said:

YAY it worked!! Thank you!
Anonymous on May 23, 2009 at 2:21 pm said:

Dude over a year later this post is still helping people out. thanks alot
Anonymous on May 31, 2009 at 1:51 am said:

thanks for your help. worked like a charm 🙂
Anonymous on June 11, 2009 at 6:11 pm said:

WOW…thanks…I've tried to fix this and had no clue what to do. No one could tell me…You're the best!! I just did a google search for "full screen won't work in YouTube" and saw this….THANKS!
GaryB on June 24, 2009 at 10:57 pm said:

On the new "2.0" channel pages I can't seem to find how to go full-screen. The little full-screen icon does not seem to appear on the new all-purpose channel page. Could YouTube be phasing out support for full-screen? I sure hope not. I think not too because they recently did what seems like a lot of work to make the scroll bar hide itself in full screen.
Keni on August 8, 2009 at 12:55 am said:

thanks so much you rock!
Fletch on October 24, 2009 at 7:09 pm said:

Thx worked a treat for me. TY

Fletch UK
Anonymous on November 21, 2009 at 8:11 am said:

Who knows where to download XRumer 5.0 Palladium?
Help, please. All recommend this program to effectively advertise on the Internet, this is the best program!
Anonymous on December 18, 2009 at 8:53 pm said:

thanks dude your advice was a blessing and relieved me of alot of stress i didn't want to deal with at the time..lololol thanks bro
Anonymous on December 31, 2009 at 5:04 am said:

Sweet, this solved a problem that has been nagging me for months!
Anonymous on January 3, 2010 at 9:18 pm said:

thanks your awesome
Anonymous on June 22, 2010 at 12:42 pm said:

LIFESAVER!!!! So glad this worked. You're a charm. God bless you.
Anonymous on July 19, 2010 at 11:26 pm said:

OMGGG!!! THANKSSSS
Anonymous on July 20, 2010 at 4:26 pm said:

Finally I can watch online video in full screen!!!!
Anonymous on August 29, 2010 at 8:14 am said:

Hey thanks a lot – it worked liked a charm.
Richlady on September 6, 2010 at 2:52 pm said:

Thank you soooo much!
Marius on September 10, 2010 at 10:53 am said:

It worked for me. Another solution is to install a previous version of flash.
Anonymous on November 7, 2010 at 8:59 pm said:

Yeah thank you it worked perfectly.
Anonymous on November 20, 2010 at 1:17 pm said:

That worked! Awesome!
Anonymous on December 27, 2010 at 6:35 pm said:

Worked, Excellent. Big THANKS
social media company on January 18, 2011 at 4:40 am said:

Normally, I use firefox, jus give IE a try then, but same problem.
Anonymous on February 11, 2011 at 9:57 am said:

thanks it worked right away!
Pierce on February 12, 2011 at 8:32 pm said:

Thanks for your help dude worked perfect :-))))))))))
Anonymous on March 18, 2011 at 5:25 pm said:

Thanks. This worked!!
Anonymous on April 25, 2011 at 5:46 pm said:

thanks, that was an easy fix!
Anonymous on May 11, 2011 at 2:59 pm said:

worked for me too! Thanks
Anonymous on May 22, 2011 at 9:32 pm said:

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!! ive ben trying to fix it for a month
(ISRL)iSimRacing on June 16, 2011 at 12:10 pm said:

I HAD TO UN_CHECK ACCELERATE HARDWARE!!!
Anonymous on June 19, 2011 at 6:12 am said:

good man; cheers' bud!
Marc on June 23, 2011 at 2:05 pm said:

WORKED THANKS SO MUCH BRO
Anonymous on July 1, 2011 at 4:04 pm said:

worked for me too – great advice – many thanks!
Steven Spruill on July 2, 2011 at 4:08 pm said:

It worked! Thanks very much for the help!
Anonymous on July 3, 2011 at 7:45 am said:

Worked, thanks for the "How To" because I could never get it going…
Anonymous on July 3, 2011 at 9:42 pm said:

thank you so much i have been trying to get it to work for ages and that worked and now i know what to do next time so thanks 🙂
Anonymous on July 4, 2011 at 3:32 pm said:

thanks alot couldn't figure out what was wrong
emiri1991 on July 4, 2011 at 4:57 pm said:

thanks a lot man, found your post and fixed my problem within seconds!
Anonymous on July 6, 2011 at 3:59 pm said:

You are a star! Thank you! 🙂
Anonymous on July 6, 2011 at 8:54 pm said:

I've been suffering along with this issue for a long time. Thank you!
Stefan Pejcic, Cyber Live Company 2011 on July 8, 2011 at 5:30 am said:

WORKED FOR ME!!! :)))
Thamk u so much, I've found this website with over 3 milions of movies and tv shows, with subtitles at my language. Thank You So Much!
Anonymous on July 9, 2011 at 6:59 am said:

thanks. Spot on. instant fix.
Anonymous on July 9, 2011 at 11:29 am said:

Thank you so much. I actually used your directions in reverse and unchecked the button. I have been trying to find a solution! Thanks again.
Anonymous on July 12, 2011 at 8:56 am said:

Thank you so much for taking your time and helping myself and so many others:)
Anonymous on July 13, 2011 at 12:15 am said:

thank you!!! it was driving me nuts and this fixed it for me.
Anonymous on August 2, 2011 at 2:49 pm said:

Wow….worked…thank U.
Anonymous on August 3, 2011 at 8:53 pm said:

Hey thanks it is very much appreciated. 🙂 Tried it and now YouTube is THAT much less annoying 🙂
DNGSALE.COM on August 5, 2011 at 2:30 am said:

worked good have tried to fix problem for weeks, Thank You

EatMyCorn.com
Eat My Corn on August 5, 2011 at 2:33 am said:

Thank You
Anonymous on August 6, 2011 at 10:51 am said:

You win all the awards! Thank you!
Anonymous on August 8, 2011 at 1:27 pm said:

worked…thanks
Anonymous on August 9, 2011 at 9:21 pm said:

3 YEARS LATER AND IT STILL WORKS LOL THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!
Anonymous on August 12, 2011 at 9:24 am said:

Thanks for posting this tip. It worked!
Anonymous on August 15, 2011 at 1:43 am said:

Thank you very much, all fixed now, cheers for that 🙂
Anonymous on August 16, 2011 at 12:24 am said:

i notice this was posted a long time ago but u helped so many people and this blog keeps helping people including me up to this day
Anonymous on August 16, 2011 at 11:32 am said:

worked for me! 😀 Thanks 🙂
Anonymous on August 18, 2011 at 6:14 pm said:

whew thank u so fricken much dude now i can finish watching naruto. lol. 🙂
ramblin9 on August 18, 2011 at 8:40 pm said:

I had been dealing with this Adobe issue and someone on craigslist computer forum sent me the link to your fix. Much appreciated!
Anonymous on August 19, 2011 at 5:58 am said:

Thank goodness for clever people like you ! Yours was the 2nd thing I tried and yes it worked like a charm ! Delighted to bits, thanks heaps 🙂
Anonymous on August 20, 2011 at 2:58 am said:

nice one all good now
Jew Unit on August 22, 2011 at 7:18 pm said:

worked for me thanks you very much
Anonymous on August 24, 2011 at 2:33 am said:

It Really worked…..Thank you soooo much 🙂
Anonymous on August 25, 2011 at 4:33 am said:

Thanks you ass! ^o^)/
mejida66 on August 25, 2011 at 1:33 pm said:

I had been having this problem with youtube and hulu for a while, now it's fixed. THANK YOU! 🙂
RJEwing85 on August 25, 2011 at 5:53 pm said:

THANKS FOR THIS, I HAVE GONE AS FAR AS UNINSTALLING FLASH NUMEROUS TIMES AS WELL AS DELETING MY CHROME.
Anonymous on August 26, 2011 at 2:39 am said:

Thank you very much for taking the time to help me and many others solve this very annoying problem. Amazingly simple when you know how. 🙂
Anonymous on August 27, 2011 at 2:30 pm said:

Thanks mate, sorted.
KissMyCarp on August 29, 2011 at 1:22 am said:

thank you very much! Fixed within a minute, tiny screen is well annoying so yet again thank you.
Anonymous on August 31, 2011 at 10:22 am said:

thanks …it works fine for me 🙂
Anonymous on September 2, 2011 at 7:45 pm said:

Thank you Thank you Thank you! Its been such a pain!!
sk8a1ex515 on September 8, 2011 at 3:41 pm said:

thank you so much it worked god bless you. 🙂
sk8a1ex515 on September 8, 2011 at 3:42 pm said:

thank you so much it worked for me god bless you. 🙂
Damaskox on September 9, 2011 at 12:12 pm said:

A great information. I got my videos working on full screen. Many thanks!
Jimmy on September 9, 2011 at 3:35 pm said:

awesome. it worked. thank you.
orkiman on September 12, 2011 at 2:46 pm said:

thanks!
Lucian on September 14, 2011 at 9:17 am said:

Yep, this did it for me 🙂 Thank you for the info!!
Anonymous on September 17, 2011 at 2:55 am said:

thank you soooo much! that totally worked! now i can watch my videos fullscreen instead of squinting =) geeks rule! \m/
Candy on September 17, 2011 at 11:48 am said:

It worked for my IE8 (Thanks!) but I still can't watch any YouTube videos in Firefox 7.
Anonymous on September 18, 2011 at 4:59 pm said:

Thanks, it works!!! Been struggling with this for a while. Much appreciated 🙂
N2KMaster on September 21, 2011 at 8:53 am said:

OH MY GOD! Me, my friends, neighbours and everyone i know using chrome and firefox were having the exact same problem. This was a gem in the rough for sure to find this page.
Anonymous on October 1, 2011 at 5:08 pm said:

Thanks
Anonymous on October 3, 2011 at 10:14 pm said:

nice! been annoying me for a while fixed it in 2 seconds!
Anonymous on October 4, 2011 at 4:15 pm said:

thanks buddy worked great cheers to you
Anonymous on October 5, 2011 at 11:03 am said:

YOU ARE INGENIOUS!!!! to no avail, i have done the ff: 3 harddisk reformat, install and uninstalled 5 browsers(repeatedly), downloaded and updated latest plugins, and countless
settings changes… thank you!!!! yipeeeee
Vincent on October 6, 2011 at 11:07 am said:

genius, thankyou
r4 3ds on October 14, 2011 at 11:30 am said:

I honestly got pleasure from studying your site, you explained number of helpful points. It made me want to bookmark your article. I addedyou to stumble and yahoo favorites. I will attempt to revisit to your blog and have a look at more posts.
r4 on October 15, 2011 at 12:18 pm said:

Worked for me to thanks it was realy annoying me that i could not watch you tube in full screen
r4i card on October 20, 2011 at 8:37 am said:

Thanks so much, I have been looking for a fix for a friends kid, who had his laptop today.
TheBetty on November 3, 2011 at 8:23 am said:

Thanks dude 🙂
Automated Feed Pump for Grease Traps on November 17, 2011 at 4:51 am said:

I have my own hobbey 3d CAD business and splashed out on a quad core with high end graphics card, thought something was seriuosly wrong with my setup until I found your post! Thanks
Anonymous on November 18, 2011 at 12:16 pm said:

Thanks so much. I played with this frickin' button so many times, but it worked this time….thanks so much…a big help for me bro!
Anonymous on December 5, 2011 at 1:51 pm said:

Thank you.
Anonymous on December 28, 2011 at 4:06 am said:

Thanks, 4 years on and it's still halping people, not many posts can say that.
Anonymous on January 5, 2012 at 9:33 am said:

Thanks – this has been bugging me for a while.
wedding flowers las vegas on January 9, 2012 at 12:47 am said:

Youre amazing, i was so annoyed by the screen going small and now i am enjoying videos on videostic again.
Anonymous on January 9, 2012 at 1:06 pm said:

Thank you so much!!!!!! Very helpful!!!!!!
property managers nevada on January 10, 2012 at 5:59 am said:

Thanks so much for posting this! I was worried something was wrong with the laptop–but your solution saved me the trouble. Brilliant!
property management nevada on January 10, 2012 at 6:21 am said:

Great find. I have my own hobbey 3d CAD business and splashed out on a quad core with high end graphics card, thought something was seriuosly wrong with my setup until I found your post! Thanks
Anonymous on February 11, 2012 at 1:42 am said:

This worked, but before I could do this I had to go to the "about HTML 5" link and then choose to "leave [youtube's] HTML 5" trial, a link at the middle of the page. Then it reverted to Flash and I was able to follow the helpful advice from the author of this blog. Thank you.

2/10/12
Lion

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YouTube Won’t Work in Full Screen

134 thoughts on “YouTube Won’t Work in Full Screen”