Troubleshooting video playback errors due to referrer policy conflicts

This article summarises common video playback errors caused by referrer policies and outlines steps to troubleshoot them effectively.

In this article

• Common causes of referrer-related playback errors
• How to check your referrer policy 
• How to find the correct domain to allow
• How to fix the issue
• Still having trouble?

This guide applies to:

• Videos with domain-level privacy enabled
• Vimeo embeds on external websites or CMS platforms
• Sites displaying a 403 privacy error or referrer-related playback error

Common causes of referrer-related playback errors

Sometimes, you may encounter tricky domain privacy cases where everything appears to be correctly set up within the video settings. Still, the embedded player displays an error message: "Sorry. Because of its privacy settings, this video cannot be played here" on the embedded site. 

 Cause 1: Referrer policy conflict

Your website is preventing Vimeo from receiving referrer information due to one of the following:

• The <meta> tag in your HTML includes this:
<meta name="referrer" content="no-referrer">
• The HTTP referrer policy is set to:
Referrer-Policy: same-origin
• Because player embed requests are cross-origin, these settings block the referrer from being sent, preventing Vimeo from verifying that your domain is authorized.

 Cause 2: CMS sub-domains masking the true domain

Some websites use a CMS preview or editor URL (such as preview.sitebuilder.com) instead of the actual domain name of the site. When this happens:

• The sub-domain (e.g., preview.examplecms.com) is what the Vimeo player sees as the referrer.
• If that sub-domain is not listed in your video’s Specific Domains setting, you’ll see a privacy error, even if the main domain is allowed.

How to check your referrer policy 

To check your referrer policy:

1. Visit the webpage where the video is embedded.
2. Right-click and choose Inspect or Inspect Element.
3. Click the Network tab.
4. Refresh the page.
5. Locate the request for the video that displays a 403 error.
   
6. Click on it and scroll to the Headers section.
7. Under Request Headers, find the Referrer value
   

 If the referrer is visible and accurate, your policy is likely fine. The issue may be a domain mismatch. If the referrer is missing, blank, or incorrect, your current policy is blocking the referrer.

How to find the correct domain to allow

To find the correct domain:

1. Go to your website where the video is embedded.
2. Right-click anywhere on the page and select Inspect or Inspect Element 
3. In the developer tools that appear, click on the Network tab.
   
4. Refresh the page 
5. Look for the video request that shows a 403 error and click on it. 
6. Scroll down to the Headers section to find the Referrer information, usually under Request Headers. This Referrer will show you the actual domain your video is on.
   
7. You’ll need to add this domain to your video’s Only allow specific domains privacy setting in Vimeo.

Example:
If your site is built with Google Sites, you may need to whitelist  googleusercontent.com instead of sites.google.com.

How to fix the issue

Still having trouble?

If the issue persists,  feel free to contact us. Please include the following so we can assist you faster, and also check your browser extensions.

• A link to the page where the video is embedded
• A screenshot of your HTML’s <meta name="referrer"> tag 
• A screenshot of your Vimeo video’s privacy settings
• A screenshot of the referrer value from the Request Headers