“This plugin is not supported” error in Chrome appears when you try to access a website with media content like videos. When you get this error, the media fails to load. This error is not generated on every website (with media) you visit but on specific sites.

This can be an annoying thing, as you are not able to view videos you might want to watch. However, there’s nothing to worry about as we have provided some easy solutions that can fix the issue. But first let’s look at the error in detail and the solutions.

Why are you getting “This plugin is not supported” error in Chrome?

There can be several reasons for this error. One of the reasons is Google has discontinued its support for NPAPI plugins and the website you are trying to visit might be using some NPAPI plugins to show the video.

For your information, Google has embraced HTML5 for its flagship browser, and that is the reason that Chrome browser no longer supports Active-X plugins, Java, or Silverlight. Though many websites have embraced HTML5, there are many older websites that still need specific plug-ins to display video content.

You are more likely to get “This plugin is not supported” error when you try to visit such older websites. However, this may not be the only reason for the error. Now let’s look at the solutions.

This posts show you 5 solutions to “this plugin is not supported” error that have worked for other users. We’re sure at least one of these will work for you. Start with the first solution and then work your way down till the problem is fixed.

Solution One – Enable Flash Player in Chrome

Chrome still supports Flash plug-ins but the support for the plug-in might be disabled. A simple solution to this problem is enabling Flash plug-in Chrome. When you enable flash plug-in, websites that need it will be able to load content, and you would be able to watch videos on these website.

Here are the steps to follow.

• Open Chrome browser
• In the address bar, type chrome://settings/content and hit enter on the keyboard
• In the Settings window, you can see Chrome browser has blocked Flash content

• Click on the > icon to open Flash settings
• In the Flash settings tab, click the toggle switch to enable Flash. When the Flash is enabled, you can see the setting changes to ask first (recommended)

• Close Settings tab

Try to open the website which gave out “This plugin is not supported” error. If the problem persists, you need to update Flash player. Here are the steps to follow.

• Open Chrome
• Go to Adobe Flash player website
• Download latest Flash player for windows and install it on your computer

Once the Flash player is updated, open the website which gave out “This plugin is not supported” error. If the problem persists, you need move to next solution.

Solution Two – Delete browsing data

As you surf the Internet, data from sites you visit gets stored on your computer. Over the time the data volume can grow to enormous size and it may prevent loading of some plugins. There is a possibility you are getting the “This plugin is not supported” error because the browsing data has become corrupt.

One simple solution to this problem is deleting browsing data and sees if it helps in resolving the error. Here are the steps to follow.

• Open Chrome
• Click three vertical dots that appear on the top right hand corner of the URL bar
• Click More tools

• Click Clear browsing data
• In the Clear browsing data, go to the Basic tab and make the following choices
• In the time range field – select All time from the drop-down list
• Make sure the following options are checked- Browsing history, Cookies, and other site data, and Cached image and files

• Now click Clear data

Open the website where you encountered “This plugin is not supported” error and check whether the issue is resolved. If the problem persists, move to next solution.

Solution Three – Add NoPlugin extension to Google Chrome

The NoPlugin extension allows you to play multimedia content without the plugins (Flash, Java, and ActiveX). It works by converting the plug-in code to HTML5 and helps in rendering video on the screen. Here are the steps to follow

• Open Chrome
• Go to NoPlugin page in Chrome Web Store

• Click Add to Chrome
• you will see a pop-up related to plugin extension, click Add extension

• When the NoPlugin extension is installed, restart your Chrome browser

Try to load the webpage where you get the “This plugin is not supported” error and see if the media is loaded. If the problem persists, move to next solution

Solution Four – Update Google Chrome

The NoPlugin extension won’t work properly if the Chrome browser is outdated. Hence, you need to update the Chrome browser and see if the issue gets resolved. Here are the steps to follow.

• Open Chrome
• Click three vertical dots that appear on the top right hand corner of the URL bar
• Click Help and then click About Google Chrome

• If the updates are available, the updating of the Chrome begins automatically when you are on this page.
• Wait for the updating process to complete
• if the Chrome is up to date, you will see a message like the one shown in image below

Try to visit the webpage where you get the “This plugin is not supported” error and see if the media is loaded. If the problem persists, move to next solution

Solution Five – Use another browser

If none of the solutions has helped you, the only way to see the media (video) from the webpage is to use another browser. You can use the Internet Explorer (Windows 7) or Edge browser (Windows 10) to visit the webpage.  You can also use Firefox if you want.