[Webkit-unassigned] [Bug 245850] New: Video playback is highly unreliable, slow, and buggy

[bugzilla-daemon at webkit.org]

https://bugs.webkit.org/show_bug.cgi?id=245850

            Bug ID: 245850
           Summary: Video playback is highly unreliable, slow, and buggy
           Product: WebKit
           Version: Other
          Hardware: PC
                OS: Linux
            Status: NEW
          Severity: Major
          Priority: P2
         Component: WebKitGTK
          Assignee: webkit-unassigned at lists.webkit.org
          Reporter: tri.voxel at gmail.com
                CC: bugs-noreply at webkitgtk.org

System:
Operating System: Fedora 36 (with Gnome on Wayland)
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
GPU: AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT
Gnome Web version: 42.2
WebKitGTK version: 2.38.0

I used a popular WebKitGTK browser known as Gnome Web (formerly Epiphany) as my primary browser for several months. Besides some occasional performance hitches, it has been a good experience. That is, however, ignoring the glaring issue of video playback. I've noticed a number of issues with video playback including but not limited to using the H.264, VP9, and AV1 codecs.

A good example is YouTube. In YouTube, you have a choice of playback between AV1 and VP9 by going to https://www.youtube.com/account_playback and setting the "AV1 Setting" to "Always prefer AV1". This will make certain 4K video playback run at an unacceptable framerate, especially unacceptable when you consider my computer is a high spec gaming computer. Here is an example of an AV1 video that runs fine in VP9 mode at 4K, and poorly in AV1 mode in 4K: https://youtu.be/VnBYQrPacqg

Note: It seems that some but not all content on YouTube now supports the AV1 codec, but other videos will not. The codec of the video can be determined by right clicking the video and selecting "stats for nerds." As AV1 is likely to become the dominant streaming codec in the future, I am hopeful this performance is resolved.

Secondly, I've noticed a major issue when trying to stream video content from a site known as Odysee.com. This site is a competitor to YouTube, and is also a good example of playback issues. In Chrome and Firefox, a user can select a video quality in the lower right corner. The site typically defaults to 720p, but can be changed to 1080p. Selecting 1080p in Chrome and Firefox will cause the video to load as expected. Selecting this option in WebKitGTK will cause the video to buffer indefinitely, and may even cause the webpage to become completely unresponsive. Now, you may notice there are two "1080p" options on Odysee's videos. One says "1080p", the other says "original (1080p)". Selecting "original" can sometimes work, selecting "1080p" will break the playback. This is a bug I can only replicate on WebKitGTK.

There is also another glaring issue that I have encountered numerous times. Scrubbing a video, either by using the arrow keys to jump forward and backward, or by using the timeline, will cause the video to freeze entirely. This has been a long-standing issue that has affected WebKitGTK for as long as I can remember going as far back as 2018 when I first started testing it. It is not 100% easily reproducible, and seems to happen somewhat sporadically. I recommend signing into your YouTube account on Gnome Web and then setting aside some time to watch your favorite YouTube content. As you watch, occasionally jump back a few seconds, then maybe adjust the timeline with the cursor. This is bound to inevitably cause this issue to present itself. Again, it cannot be reproduced reliably, but will 100% happen if you are trying to interact with videos in any meaningful way.

The procedure to reproduce generally goes like this, I am watching a video on YouTube, Odysee, or some other social media site such as Reddit. I may bounce back a few seconds by using the arrow keys. I may use "J" and "L" to bounce back and forward even faster. I may then press play and encounter a buffering error or a frozen webpage. I also may bounce through the timeline using these keys, followed by a timeline scroll with my mouse that completely crashes or freezes the video playback or webpage. I also may encounter it by clicking around the timeline to different sections of the video until it crashes or freezes. It is not an uncommon bug, but it is not usually so prevalent that it makes the browser unusable. However, sometimes it is.

Additionally, some one-off video sites are just absolutely terrible from time to time. It likely depends on the codecs being used, but an example of this is https://videos.trom.tf . I don't use this site personally or know much about it, but I loaded a video through it once and it just refused to play in WebKit, but worked fine in Firefox. It seems the video playback system needs a lot of work.

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