Faster Video

Faster Video is a nifty, little Firefox extension that makes it possible for you to control the playback rate of almost any HTML5 video.

It's ultra-lightweight, it can be installed in just a couple of seconds from its official Mozilla Add-on Store, and it does not require any complicated pre-configuration to get it up and running.

Once installed, you can start taking advantage of everything this extension has to offer by right-clicking any HTML5 video, basically from the contextual menu.

You should be able to see a new, "Playback Rate" section, from where you can choose various predefined playback values ranging from 0.5X all the way up to 5X. You are also provided with the option to increase or decrease the playback rate by 0.25 or 1 increments.

However, Faster Video does not come without a series of quirks. For instance, its integration with the HTML5 player contextual player might seem like a good call, but in real fact, it does not work that great on websites with HTML5 videos that have custom menus, such as YouTube, for example.

Since you're forced to right-click almost anywhere on the HTML5 player's area, but not on the video itself, we are wondering why the development team behind this extension have not opted for a more compact, hovering GUI, which would have clearly been more practical.

Since we're on the subject, it's also impossible to change the playback speed while the video is in fullscreen mode and, it only works when a single HTML5 video is playing.

At the end of the day, though, Faster Video gets the job done, one way or another. It's not exactly the most convenient or reliable extension, but even with its series of drawbacks, it has enough potential to prove useful for users who are looking for a quick way of controlling their HTML5 video playback rates.