Skip Quiet Parts of Videos With This Browser Extension
Want to quickly watch a lecture or training video, but don’t want to distort the speaker’s speech? The Jump Cutter browser extension can do just that, speeding up only the quiet pauses during a conversation or lecture.
This free, open-source tool scans the audio of the video you’re watching and speeds up playback when there’s no sound. This is especially useful if you are listening to a lecture… by someone who… pauses… unnecessarily… before returning to your topic. To get started, simply download the extension for Chrome , Firefox , or Edge , and then load any video into your browser. You can also download videos saved on your computer using the extension – just click the extension icon, then click Open Local File and you can drag and drop the video.
Whatever video you’re playing, you can click the extension icon to see it in action. The panel will show you the video volume over time. Anything marked in red means pause. During these pauses, you can speed up video playback up to eight times its original playback speed. The result: you can end the conversation much faster.
You can adjust several settings, including the volume point that is considered quiet, how much the video should speed up during pauses, and whether to leave headroom before and after pauses. If you wish, you can also speed up the speech in general, but this, of course, will distort the presenter’s speech even more.
Personally, I believe that such tools should only be used when you are really pressed for time or when the speaker’s excessive pauses are constantly driving you crazy. It’s also worth noting that pauses aren’t necessarily dead space—they’re necessary for things like comedic timing, for example. So I wouldn’t leave this on if you’re watching stand-up comedy or even just a professor who is known for making good jokes.
However, all these caveats aside, this is a simple tool that does the job advertised. It’s no surprise that this tool is of course popular with college students, but I can imagine it being used for work meetings as well.