Safari: If you use Apple’s Safari browser as your daily driver, you may be wondering to yourself, “What’s autoplay video?” That’s because in the newest versions of Safari (starting with version 11, released in 2017), most autoplaying videos are blocked. This method won’t typically block videos in the older Adobe Flash format, but we’ll explain how to do so below. This will disable most HTML5-based videos from playing on their own when you load a page. Next, search in the window for the “” setting and double-click it. It's straightforward, but not something you'd stumble across by searching through pull-down menus.įirst, you’ll need to access the browser’s advanced options by typing “about:config” (without the quotation marks) in the address bar and hitting Return. (See the Extensions section below.)įirefox: Mozilla’s recently revamped Firefox web browser offers a straightforward way to prevent unwanted videos from playing automatically as you hop from site to site. In the meantime you can use a third-party extension to stop the videos.

The good news is that Google is planning a version of Chrome that will block autoplaying video right out of the box, but the bad news is that the company doesn’t have a firm release date. Browser SettingsĬhrome: There’s good and bad news when it comes to disabling autoplay videos in Chrome, the most popular desktop web browser on the planet, according to the analysis firm StatCounter.

“Searches about your health condition, your political engagement-you probably want to keep those secret,” and blocking autoplay videos can help, says Günes Acar, a research associate at Princeton University’s Center for Information Technology Policy. Those videos often come packaged with technology that can track your activity across the web for the benefit of advertisers. That's handy if you’ve tethered your laptop to a smartphone at a café or have an internet service provider (ISP) with a monthly data cap.Īnd using a browser extension to block annoying autoplay videos has the added benefit of enhancing your overall online privacy. Blocking these videos not only cuts down on the distraction but can also keep you from needlessly burning through cellular data.

Chrome autoplay video disable