Google ChromeFirefoxMicrosoft Edge and Internet ExplorerSafari
Google Chrome
Google Chrome may be the worst browser for navigating autoplay. Google stripped out any option for disabling autoplay completely, and most extensions have spotty support at best. There are two options for handling autoplay with Chrome, but neither is ideal.
Mute Audio by Default
Your first option for handling autoplay on Chrome is to mute all audio by default. This will prevent the obnoxious audio playback from blaring through your speakers, but the videos will still play. It also forces you to manually unmute any sites you want to hear audio from.
Disable Autoplay in Your Shortcut
Here’s a frustrating bit of news; Chrome does contain the ability to disable autoplay(sort of). Google purposefully made it inaccessible within the browser. You can disable it via a command line flag in your desktop shortcut icon, though. This will only work when you launch Chrome through the shortcut, so be mindful to make a habit of opening your browser that way. It also doesn’t appear to be a guaranteed for all sites, either.
Firefox
You can disable video autoplay in Firefox through the browser’s regular privacy and security settings. Here’s how: With Firefox, you can also use the same controls to safelist sites where you may want to allow videos to play automatically, like YouTube or a streaming service.
Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer
Edge is Microsoft’s latest and greatest browser and the one replaces Internet Explorer. Edge has made some major improvements in both performance and usability. Among those is the ability to control how your browser handles autoplay videos.
Safari
If you are running the latest macOS (called High Sierra), that means you have the latest version of Safari and you can easily turn off video autoplay on any website you visit. Here’s how:
Disable Autoplay by Default in Safari
Safari also lets you disable autoplay by default, making it much easier to control which sites are and aren’t allowed to play videos automatically. If you aren’t running High Sierra, have no fear because Safari 11 is available for Sierra and El Capitan. If you don’t have Safari 11, just go to the Mac App Store and search for Safari. If you are running an older version of macOS than that either of the ones listed just above, however, you’ll be out of luck.
