How can I watch Amazon Prime videos using Firefox on Ubuntu 16.04?

Question

How can I watch Amazon Prime videos using Firefox on Ubuntu 16.04? Currently Firefox version is 48.0. When I attempt to watch a video, I get the following Digital Rights Error message:

Your web browser is missing a digital rights component.

In your web browser’s address bar, type about:addons, press Enter, and then on the left, click Plugins. For the Widevine Content Decryption Module, select Always Activate, and then refresh the video’s page and try watching the video.

If the video doesn’t play, go back to Plugins, click the gear icon at the top of the page, and then click Check for Updates. When the plugins have updated, refresh the video’s page, and then try watching the video.

I didn't find Widevine Content Decryption Module.

I searched for a solution, but it didn't work...

One solution I found was to sudo apt-get install flashplugin-installer and then do the following:

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:flexiondotorg/hal-flash
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install libhal1-flash

However, it didn't work and I still got the same Digital Rights Error message.

I am able to watch Amazon Prime videos using Google Chrome, but not with Firefox. I want to know if it's possible on Firefox on Ubuntu 16.04.

Solution 1

Yes, you can watch Amazon Videos on Firefox but you will have to use Firefox 49 or newer. At the time of writing, the version of Firefox available in the official Ubuntu repositories is currently at 48, so you will have to use Official PPA for Firefox Beta to upgrade your Firefox to version 49:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mozillateam/firefox-next
sudo apt update

If you already have Firefox 49 or newer from the Ubuntu repositories without using any PPAs, then you don't need to use the PPA mentioned above unless you would like to try the beta version of Firefox.

Once you have Firefox 49 or newer, open Firefox and navigate to the desired Amazon Video. There will be a ribbon that asks if you want to play DRM content. Alternatively, click on the hamburger menu button and go to "Preferences" > "Content" and check the "Play DRM content" box.

Solution 2

This is actually a problem with enabling DRM content(atleast in the case of newer versions)

So if its an old version see the above accepted answer, and if you have a newer version and still things are not working, this answer is for you.

Firefox disables playing DRM content by default To be able to watch DRM content enable it by Selecting "Play DRM Content" in Preferences -> Content.

Check this out for more info : https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enable-drm

Note that I tested this on Firefox 53, I am not sure about older versions.

Solution 3

If it does not work even with DRM-content enabled and Widevine Content Decryption Module Always Activate (both are the default for FF 57, 58 and maybe more), try to solve it by installing VLC

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install vlc

Worked for me with FF 57 and FF 58 (Ubuntu 16.04).

Comments

[Admin]

I was just reading today how NetFlix which now only works in chrome out of the box will be supported in Fire Fox version 49 out of the box. Hopefully '49 version will work for Amazon Prime too. Isn't there a fire fox web site you could check though? I hope someone with experience answers your question here though.

[kimbaudi]

I guess I'll wait until FF 49.

[edwinksl]

@kimbaudi Sounds good since it looks like Firefox 49 is supposedly coming this September.

[nbubis]

Doesn't work on FF 53 either

[MathKid]

Thanks, this worked for me. Also, check that you're on the correct domain. For example don't navigate to amazon.com if you created your account on amazon.co.uk

[Hendy]

Worked seamlessly for me on 16.04 + FF 54.0 just now. This is nice, as I typically use chromium + widevine on Arch linux... I'd been googling for how to do that vs. just generally playing Amazon vids. Thanks!

[hgoebl]

Works for FF 55.0.2 (64Bit) on Linux Mint without additional Plugins. Amazon help is outdated.

[hgoebl]

see answer by @matrixisreal when using FF 55 or above.

[proteus]

This doesn't work on Firefox 60.0.1 on Lubuntu x86. Widevine is enabled and the DRM checkbox is checked. Yet Amazon Prime complains and doesn't run videos in HD.

[JEL]

This worked on Ubuntu 20.04, FF 96, after I'd ruled out the usual suspects (DRM, Widevine).