Forcing specific codecs when watching YouTube (Block 60fphsh264 VP8 VP9 AV1)

If you want to watch a video on YouTube with a specific codec or block a specific codec, you can use this method. If a particular video is played only in AV1, or if my computer does not support VP8 or VP9 acceleration and is played as a vp8/9 video on YouTube, you can solve it this way.


If the network bandwidth is wide by country, H.264 is a codec that YouTube does not recommend due to image quality. In addition, AV1 is not efficient compared to the complexity used in the operation and the power consumption during HW acceleration. So, those who use this plug-in usually block h264 and AV1. 


All Chromium-based browsers are supported for this plug-in. It works on Chrome or Microsoft Edge, and it works on Windows and MacOS. 


This is the plug-in installation path. 

► enhanced-h264ify: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/enhanced-h264ify/omkfmpieigblcllmkgbflkikinpkodlk


After installing this plug-in, a menu appears in the upper right corner of the browser, where you can select the codec to block.


Block specific codec in Youtube


- H.264: We support H/W decoding if possible.


- VP8/VP9: These days, most devices support H/W decoding. To make sure it's HW accelerate, you can go into chrome://gpu and check the Decode VP9 item.


- AV1: Tiger Lake, Nvidia RTX supports more than 3000 devices first.


- Disable Loudness Normalization: When you upload a video on YouTube, you separate the video from the audio and encode it. At this time, the volume is normalized to a certain level. If the creator who uploaded the video instead of this normalized audio wants to come out according to the intended volume, you can check this option.


If my computer doesn't accelerate AV1 hardware and the AV1 video plays, you only need to check with Block AV1. I recommend you not to block the H.264 video. This is because there are cases where there are no VP8/9 sources for streaming videos and channels that are not large.


If you want to check the codec of the YouTube video, you can check the playback information by right-click on the YouTube video and click Stats for adults.


*Sometimes, there are videos that block H.264 but cannot be played. In this case, the following message is displayed. 


 "Your browser does not currently recognize any of the video formats available." 

 "Click here to visit our frequently asked questions about HTML5 video."