Websites that play videos automatically can be a great annoyance because they use up valuable data and slow down your internet connection. When videos play in the background, especially on websites that uninvitedly loop one video after another, the issue is significantly worse. Today, we’ll show you how to stop autoplay videos on your web browser if you’re sick of websites engaging in this behaviour (Google Chrome, Firefox, and Microsoft Edge). One of the largest online irritants can be eliminated with the assistance of this advice.
Disable Autoplay Videos on Your Web Browser (Updated April 2021)
This guide will demonstrate how to stop autoplaying videos on desktop and mobile versions of Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Microsoft Edge. So let’s start without further ado.
Stop Autoplay Videos on Google Chrome
There is no built-in way to stop autoplaying movies in Google Chrome. Only Settings -> Site Settings -> Additional Content Settings -> Sound allows you to mute autoplay videos; however, doing so worldwide disables media capabilities across all websites, including YouTube and Twitch. As a result, a third-party extension is required to disable autoplay videos on Chrome for desktop.
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Windows and Mac
With varied degrees of success, a number of third-party plugins can prevent autoplay videos on Chrome. The greatest Chrome extension for 2021 is called Autoplay Stopper, and it does exactly what it says on every website I investigated, including YouTube, CNN, and CNET. Additionally, you can increase your security and privacy by turning off Flash detection on websites. now that HTML5 has permanently replaced Flash, which has reached the end of its lifespan. You should also look at how to remove Flash from your computer while you’re at it.
Autoplay Stopper is updated frequently, in contrast to many other comparable extensions; the most recent update was made in March 2021. You can be confident that the developer will act quickly to address any server-side changes made by websites to get around autoplay blockers since the extension has already undergone at least four updates this year.
Autoplay Stopper should be included to Chrome (Free)
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Android and iOS
Google Chrome on mobile devices no longer blocks autoplay videos like it does on desktops. In Chrome for Android, you could previously disable autoplay of media, but the function has since been discontinued. Videos on all websites will always be muted when you mute them in Google Chrome for Android (Settings -> Site Settings -> Sound).
Chrome for Android does not support extensions, in contrast to Firefox for Android, which supports a number of well-known add-ons. This indicates that starting in April 2021, there will be no way to disable autoplay media in Chrome on mobile platforms like Android, iOS, and iPadOS.
Stop Autoplaying Videos on Mozilla Firefox
On desktops and mobile devices alike, Mozilla Firefox provides built-in options to turn off autoplay media, in contrast to Google Chrome.
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Windows 10
Here’s how to stop videos from automatically playing in Firefox on Windows 10:
1. On your computer, launch Mozilla Firefox and select the hamburger menu in the top-right corner. Pick Options from the drop-down menu now.
2. From the left sidebar of the Options window, select Privacy and Security. Click on Settings next to Autoplay under the Permissions section on the right pane.
3. On the pop-up box, select Block Audio and Video from the drop-down menu next to Default for all websites. Use the blue “Save Changes” button at the bottom to remember to save your changes.
4. When Firefox is blocking media on a website (say, on YouTube), you ll see a special icon [1] in the address bar. Click on that icon to open the Site Information drop-down panel, where you canselect the Allow Audio and Video optionfrom the drop-down menu next to Autoplay to whitelist the site. That means videos will autoplay the next time you visit the website unless you manually remove the site from your whitelist.
5. For even more comprehensive autoplay blocking options on Firefox, you will need to tweak a few settings in about:config. To do that, type about:config in the Firefox address bar and hit Enter. To dismiss the warning and access advanced settings, click onAccept the Risk and Continue.
6. On the about:config page, search formedia.autoplayusing the dedicated search bar at the top. Now change the following options:
media.autoplay.default = 5 [0=allow, 1=block audible, 2=prompt, 5=block all] media.autoplay.blocking_policy = 2 media.autoplay.allow-extension-background-pages = false media.autoplay.block-event.enabled = true
This should stop all autoplay videos globally on all websites in Mozilla Firefox on your Windows 10 or macOS computer.
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Android
Like its desktop counterpart, Firefox on mobile also offers a built-in option to disable autoplay videos on websites. Here s how you can access the feature:
1. Open Firefox on your Android phone and tap on thethree-dots menuat the top-right corner. From the popup menu, selectSettings.
2. On the Settings page, select Site permissions and then tap on theAutoplayoption on the next page.
3. Finally, select theBlock audio and videooption as we did on the desktop browser.
Stop Autoplay Videos on Microsoft Edge
Microsoft hasended support for Edge Legacy. The latest version of Microsoft Edge is based on Chromium, just like Google Chrome. However, unlike the latter, it offers a built-in option to disable autoplay media on both desktops and mobile. Here, we will show you how to disable autoplay videos in Microsoft Edge both on Windows 10 and Android.
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Windows 10
By default, Microsoft Edge only allows you to Limit autoplay on websites. However, you can use aMicrosoft Edge flagto Block all autoplay videos. Here s how:
1. First off, open Microsoft Edge on your computer. Now type-inedge://flags/in the address bar and hit Enter. On the Edge flags page, search for autoplay . You should find a single entry: Show block option in autoplay settings. Use the drop-down menu next to it to change the value toEnabled. Restart your browser.
2. Now type inedge://settings/content/media
Autoplayin the address bar and hit Enter. Here, you will find theControl if audio and video play automatically on sitesoption. Use the drop-down menu to change the setting toBlock. The change will be auto-saved, and videos no longer autoplay on websites.
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Android
Note:Without the first step, you will only find two options under Autoplay Allow and Limit . The Block option will only show up once you enable the Show Block Option flag.
Here s how to disable autoplay videos in Microsoft Edge on Android:
1. Open Microsoft Edge on your Android phone or tablet. Tap on thethree-dots menuat the bottom and selectSettingsfrom the slide-out panel.
2. On the Settings page, tap onSite permissions. On the next page, scroll down and selectMedia.
3. On the Media settings page, you will see that theAutoplayoption is enabled by default. To disable this option, tap on it and switch off the toggle on the next page.
Reclaim Your Sanity by Stopping Autoplay Videos on Your Web Browser
That s it. Now no media (audio or video) will autoplay on any website while surfing the internet on Microsoft Edge for Android.