Summary:
Do your videos turn black while playing? Well, black screen while playing the videos isn’t any new problem. This is the most common issue occurred with the videos watched over the internet or downloaded. To fix this problem and get back to your favorite and important videos here is the solution. Fix black screen issue while watching videos using a few simple methods.
You might have come across this issue while trying to play video clips saved on your drive or while watching videos on the browser under different circumstances:
Case 1: You might have just upgraded to Windows 11 and 10 and experienced the black screen and no video while audio playing on your video player.
Case 2: Downloaded videos from browser isn’t playing
Case 3: While watching YouTube, you might have a black screen but at the background audio plays.
What Causes Black Screen When Playing Videos?
The main cause for Windows to turn black while playing the video is corruption in the file. It could also be due to issues in header-broken header, video codec issues, error during video transferring and other reasons such as-
1. Header corruption or damage caused by the multiple edits or format change
2. Codec missing from the video
3. Virus or malware on the storage drives
4. Outdated video drivers
5. Video hasn’t been downloaded appropriately
Irrespective of the causes, you can find Windows turning black in two scenarios. One is while playing stored videos on your computer. Another is when you are watching streaming videos.
Click on the corresponding links to know more on complete solutions to fix black screen when playing videos.
- Black screen while playing videos on your computer
- Black screen while watching YouTube or any other streaming videos
Black screen issue should be resolved as soon as possible because the complete blackening of the screen would often lead to the severe corruption of videos.
For an instant and effective solution to fix black screen on both Windows and Mac computers, you could make use of the trusted Video repair tool.
How to Fix Black Screen When Watching Videos?
If you have updated the OS to Windows 10, the issue exists when the display adapter drivers are not updated. Try the following methods and check if this helps-
Method 1: Run the Video Playback Troubleshooter
- Press Windows + X keys -> Control Panel
- Type Troubleshooting in the search bar on the Control Panel.
- Click on Troubleshoot computer problems -> Hardware and devices
- Go to Windows -> Video playback under Windows.
- Click on Advanced on the Video playback dialog box -> click on Run as administrator.
- Click on Next and follow onscreen instruction complete the Video playback trouble-shooter.
If the issue persists, follow method 2.
Method 2: Uninstall and Reinstall Display Drivers /Update the Display Drivers
- Press Windows +X keys ->Device Manager.
- Find and double-click Display adapters
- Right-click the device ->click Update driver software.
- Follow the onscreen instructions to update the drivers.
- After the uninstallation is complete, reboot your computer as soon as possible.
If the issue persists, it is suggested to install the latest Display drivers from the manufacturer site.
Method 3: Steps to Repair Corrupt or Damaged Videos
This is the best possible way to fix the error caused due to video compression, video file corruption, read/write errors or the virus infection. Before heading to steps, download and install the SFWare MOV Video Repair tool on your computer.
With its built-in streamlined algorithm, the tool takes few minutes to fix the issue. The awarding feature of SFWare is that it works in read only mode to keep your original video track unaltered and ensures integrity of the video is maintained.
Step 1: Click on MOV/Mp4 file repair to repair videos of any format
Step 2: Click on the healthy file, to provide the reference. Click on Corrupt file option to select the video file that need to be repaired
Step 3: Click on repair.
Once the repair process completes, you can preview the files and get it saved in your desired location
SFWare utility separates video and audio tracks, repairs the corrupted tracks individually and adjoins them to make a healthy video.
This method works effectively on all the video file formats including MOV, MKV, MP4, AVI and M4K files.
The tool is available for both Windows and Mac versions including the latest Windows 10 and macOS Big Sur and Catalina.
Fix Black Screen While Playing YouTube Videos
You might experience black screen due to browse cache. The Browse Cache files clogs up the YouTube videos therefore prevents from outputting and leads to the error. Inappropriate browser settings also lead to the black screen error.
Follow the methods to fix the black screen error while playing YouTube videos
Method 1: Verify Network Connection
If you are browsing YouTube under poor network connection, switch to the better network and try playing the video again. Try refreshing the page when black screen is displayed
Method 2: Clear Browser cache
For Google Chrome:
Click on Chrome Menu -> More Tools ->History ->Clear browsing data
For Firefox:
Click on Tools -> Options -> Advanced -> Clear Now Cached Web Content and Offline Web Content and User Data
For Safari – Mac OS:
Click on Safari Menu ->Empty Cache -> Empty
Method 3: Browser Setting-Disable the Hardware Acceleration
Firefox
Go to Options -> Advanced ->uncheck use hardware acceleration when available
Restart the browser
Chrome
Go to Settings -> Advanced Settings -> Systems -> uncheck hardware acceleration when available
Restart the chrome
Bottom Line:
With the help of the above-mentioned methods black screen while playing videos can be fixed. The article explains the solution based on the situation error occurred. If you fail to fix the error using the free methods, you can always rely on SFWare Video repair tool. You can also recover lost or deleted video files using SFWare Data Recovery Software.