Software

If you’ve established that there’s nothing wrong with your internet connection (see the previous step), then problems loading media files can be down to the settings in your browser. Older content might need Flash, for example, while nothing will run on YouTube unless you’ve got JavaScript enabled.

All these options should be enabled by default in your browser, but it’s possible that you’ve deliberately or inadvertently switched them off. You can find official help online for making sure these media plug-ins are enabled: Click through for Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Apple Safari. In Microsoft Edge, open the app menu then pick Settings and View advanced settings.

If the problems persist then it’s back to our old troubleshooting fall-backs: the browser cache update, reset, and full uninstall and reinstall that we mentioned back in tip 1. Third-party extensions can also interfere with the way media is displayed on the page, especially if they’re doing something like blocking ads or modifying content, so that’s another possible cause to troubleshoot.

This is all assuming that you haven’t disabled the showing of media files in your browser. The only browser where this option is readily available to users is in Chrome: To double-check, go to Content Settings on the advanced settings pane.