Videos won't play or are buffering

99% of video issues come down to one of four things. Try them in order — most people are sorted by step 2.

1. Refresh the page, then reload your browser

The first thing to try, every time. A page that's been open for a while sometimes loses its connection to the video player. Hit refresh (or close the tab and reopen the lesson). If the video still won't play, fully quit and reopen your browser before trying again.

2. Disable your ad-blocker

Some ad-blockers — uBlock Origin, AdBlock Plus, Privacy Badger, Brave's built-in shield — block the Vimeo player even though it's not an ad. Pause your blocker on thevessel.io (or whitelist the domain in the extension's settings) and refresh. This is the #1 cause of "video won't play."

3. Try a different browser

Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Edge are all supported. If a video misbehaves in one, try another. If it works in browser B but not browser A, the issue is in browser A — likely an extension or a corrupted cache. Clear your cache there or reinstall the browser.

4. Check your connection

Run a quick speed test (search "speed test" on Google). If you're under about 3 Mbps download, video will struggle. If you're at home and another device is doing a big download or stream, that can choke the connection. Pause that, try again.

Still not playing?

Email support@thevessel.io with:

• Which course and which lesson
• Which browser and version (e.g. "Chrome 121 on macOS")
• What you see on screen — frozen black box, error message, infinite loading spinner

That's enough for us to diagnose 95% of cases without further back-and-forth.