Google Chrome will turn off autoplay videos with sound to improve your browsing experience
IMAGE: PHOTOTHEK VIA GETTY IMAGES.
The worst part of the experience, perhaps, is the audio. You’re listening to your Spotify list when the sound of an explosion from a random Hollywood disaster movie bursts into your ears, and you have to frenetically chase the Chrome tab responsible for the noise.
In order to at least partly solve the autoplay video problem, and make Chrome more user-friendly, Google wants to give control over audio back to users.
From January 2018, with Chrome 64, autoplay will work only when either there’s no sound in the video or the user has shown interest in the clip.
“This will allow autoplay to occur when users want media to play, and respect users’ wishes when they don’t,” Google’s Software Engineer Mounir Lamouri said in a blog post.
“These changes will also unify desktop and mobile web behavior, making web media development more predictable across platforms and browsers.”
In addition, Chrome 63 will have a new option for users 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,” Google said.
“These changes will give users greater control over media playing in their browser while making it easier for publishers to implement autoplay where it benefits the user.”
