this post was submitted on 17 Jan 2024
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Would changing useragent to chrome cause me problems? (lemm.ee)
submitted 10 months ago by flashgnash@lemm.ee to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml
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I'm hearing a lot about websites like netflix and YouTube crippling their performance in some way if you're using firefox instead of chrome/a smart TV

Is it likely to cause me problems if I just globally change my useragent to chrome instead of firefox?

Alternatively, is there an extension that automatically bypasses all of these things that people are aware of (pretends to be a smart TV for netflix, chrome for YouTube, etc automatically)

If there's not an extension, what would be involved in making one? Obviously user agent changes dependant on URL but I'm not sure what other metrics these websites might be able to use to figure out what you're using

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[โ€“] neidu2@feddit.nl 9 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

It shouldn't. I had a fake useragent for years to get netflix working on linux+firefox before it was supported. I noticed no side-effects.

I don't remember the name, but I used an extension to do it. It was a pretty trivial thing to do.

[โ€“] flashgnash@lemm.ee 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Using a fake useragent isn't difficult I've got an extension for it already so I can cast YouTube to my laptop

Having heard from others apparently changing useragent alone isn't enough to trick sites like netflix though so that's probably a bust actually

[โ€“] thepreciousboar@lemm.ee 1 points 10 months ago

Netflix and all other streaming services use DRM to provide content. Firefox might have different DRMs from Chrome, even worse if you are on linux. As far as I know reading from other posts, there are several DRMs with different "tiers" of encryptions, lower tier are less trusted so websites only give them lower quality content, but they have more open licenses so it's easier you'll find it on an Open Source browser deployed on linux. I don't know if there are ways to use different DRMs, maybe proprietary ones

[โ€“] snooggums@kbin.social 8 points 10 months ago

Both Youtube and Netflix work perfectly fine for me in Firefix with uBlock Origin on default settings, everything loads up instantly and plays smoothly. Don't even have pauses for ads on Youtube, it is like they don't even exist.

[โ€“] Deebster 4 points 10 months ago

No, it'll be fine 99% of the time.

Nowadays, feature detection is done within browsers, and the differences between browsers are small enough that servers generally will serve the same version of a page to all.

[โ€“] tias@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

On this subject, does anyone know of an extension that lets me spoof user agent only for specific sites such as YouTube?