# Lazy videos does not work with youtu.be

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/lazy-videos-does-not-work-with-youtu-be/390077
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [December 1, 2025, 5:56pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/lazy-videos-does-not-work-with-youtu-be/390077 "2025-12-01T17:56:20Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![fuzzyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/fuzzyk/32/129208_2.png) [@fuzzyk](https://meta.discourse.org/u/fuzzyk)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2025, 5:56pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/lazy-videos-does-not-work-with-youtu-be/390077/1 "2025-12-01T17:56:20Z")

</div>

The Lazy Videos plugin does not work with Youtube short URLs. It does work with regular Youtube URLs. Since regular Youtube embeds ceased working (conflicts with my `Referrer-Policy`), Lazy Videos would at least present a preview instead of the useless error 153.

Not sure whether Lazy Videos is enabled on Meta, I’ll try to demonstrate:

[![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/c/1/5/c15c598057cd202a9329bbd28f8578d4162a4772.jpeg "Cat 319D LN climbing onto rail car") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1CMSV81_ws)

Linked as `https://youtu.be/Q1CMSV81_ws`

[![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/c/1/5/c15c598057cd202a9329bbd28f8578d4162a4772.jpeg "Cat 319D LN climbing onto rail car") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1CMSV81_ws)

Linked as `https://youtube.com/watch?v=Q1CMSV81_ws`

I don’t understand how the plugin works, so I don’t understand how this could be. Is it a bug? Did I configure something in a way that breaks only `youtu.be`?

I’m on af9fd33792. But the problem is way older.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Falco](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/falco/32/179432_2.png) [@Falco](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Falco)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2025, 6:03pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/lazy-videos-does-not-work-with-youtu-be/390077/2 "2025-12-01T18:03:15Z")

</div>

They look the same here.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Moin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/moin/32/554653_2.png) [@Moin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Moin)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2025, 6:08pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/lazy-videos-does-not-work-with-youtu-be/390077/3 "2025-12-01T18:08:28Z")

</div>

You might find some helpful suggestions in [I have issue to embed Youtube video - YouTube Error 153](https://meta.discourse.org/t/i-have-issue-to-embed-youtube-video-youtube-error-153/387672). I wonder what all these forums have in common that makes them behave differently than Meta.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![fuzzyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/fuzzyk/32/129208_2.png) [@fuzzyk](https://meta.discourse.org/u/fuzzyk)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2025, 7:15pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/lazy-videos-does-not-work-with-youtu-be/390077/4 "2025-12-01T19:15:40Z")

</div>

Thanks, I already have a very solid idea why it happens for me: Because I have `Referrer-Policy: same-origin` set. This means no `Referer` for embedded Youtube, breaking the embed. A similar effect could occur with strict tracking protection settings in browsers.

That’s fine though. I mean, I would certainly prefer it if the Youtube Onebox would use `youtube-nocookie.com`, which may or may not help, but that’s a different topic.

Instead, I want to understand and fix Lazy Videos. It’s superior anyway. But I have no idea what to try.