How to Prevent a New Google Chrome Update From Automatically Playing Videos
So, you just installed Google Chrome, or you cleared your cache and history because you wanted to save space on your computer or fix some kind of website problem related to cookies. You go to your favorite website, and suddenly sound comes out of the speakers. The horrible autoplay video is back.
We previously reported that Chrome 66 was supposed to disable all auto-playing videos by default until you connect to the site. And it didn’t take long to trigger this “interaction” as Google wrote :
“LocalNewsSite.com contains both text and video content. Most people visit the site through the home page and then click on news articles. Autoplay on news article pages will be allowed due to user interaction with the domain. Care should be taken, however, to ensure that users are not surprised by the automatic playback of the content. “
Google’s giant whitelist to automatically play videos
Now, according to Google , the company will initially allow over 1,000 whitelisted sites to automatically play videos with sound when you start using the new version of Chrome:
“If you don’t have any browsing history, Chrome can automatically launch over 1,000 sites where we see the highest percentage of visitors playing media with sound. When you browse the web, this list changes as Chrome learns and turns on autoplay on sites where you play media with sound during most of your visits, and turns it off on sites where you don’t. In this way, Chrome gives you a personalized and predictable web browsing experience. “
According to Google, this new policy change, effective with the latest version of Chrome, 66.0.3359.139, should block “about half of unwanted autostarts.” To be honest, I hate to deal with any sites that play autoplay videos loudly while Chrome takes its time to learn what you like and what you don’t.
Don’t wait for Chrome to know your preferences
Here’s my solution: If you come across a site with annoying autoplay videos that are not disabled, don’t bother clicking on small players to stop the video on every occasion. It will take forever, and according to Google, it can take up to 20 “pause” actions before Chrome realizes that you don’t like the site automatically playing a loud video.
Instead, if the site annoys you with autoplaying videos enabled, look for the little padlock icon to the left of Chrome’s address bar. Click on it to open the settings menu, which allows you to block audio (and notifications, if applicable) across the entire domain.
You can also use an add-on like Turn Off the Lights to block (most) the video from autoplaying even from the start. In fact, today I will write a post about many of the semi-hidden extension functions. So, in the delightful words of Ira Glass, stay with us.