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Chrome and Safari Will Soon Block Auto-Play Videos

One of the last vestiges of of the annoying web, auto-playing video, is about to die.

Google announced on Thursday that a future version of Chrome will block some types of auto=playing video:

Starting in Chrome 64, autoplay will be allowed when either the media won’t play sound, or the user has indicated an interest in the media. This will allow autoplay to occur when users want media to play, and respect users' wishes when they don’t. These changes will also unify desktop and mobile web behavior, making web media development more predictable across platforms and browsers.

Not all users have the same preferences for autoplay media, so Chrome 63 will add a new user option to completely disable audio for individual sites. This site muting option will persist between browsing sessions, allowing users to customize when and where audio will play.

Okay, it’s not a complete death blow, but at least they’re going to kill the annoying audio. That is a step in the right direction.

In related news, Cnet reported that at Apple announced a similar improvement in Safari at WWDC back in June.

A lot of the annoying features that come with surfing the web are going to be blocked on the latest version of Apple’s Safari browser, including autoplay videos.

Craig Federighi, who runs software at Apple, unveiled some of the new features for Safari, which will be available with its new operating system, High Sierra. The news came at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday.

Other Safari additions include automatic blocking videos that play on their own (yes, like the ones you see on CNET, possibly even in this story) and greater speed.

Apple, as you know, makes a rather popular smartphone and tablet. They have previously made ad- and tracker-blocking a core feature in Safari, and now they are improving the mobile browsing experience by blocking videos.

Let’s hope Apple goes for a complete block rather than Google’s half-assed move.

image by Flamsmark

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Comments


1 September 16, 2017 um 9:00 pm

Google’s solution seems unnecessarily complicated.
I think I prefer the option in Firefox which stops autoplay in all videos.


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