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I want to disable YouTube autoplay in Google Chrome.

I followed the instructions in How to Disable YouTube Video Autoplay

I went to chrome://chrome/settings/content and changed the settings to "Click to Play".

It worked, but a few days ago it stopped working and YouTube videos started to autoplay again on my computer. How do I disable autoplay in Google Chrome without installing any plugin? I'm using Google Chrome in Windows.

2022-02-19 update: If you don't use any plugin or extension, you can't stop sound/video/music from auto-playing on any website which the website admin has set to autoplay. The only way to stop autoplay is not to use Chrome.

This problem has bothered me for years, but Google doesn't want it to be possible to disable autoplay on Chrome.

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4
  • Having exactly the same problem: despite having "Click to play" enabled (and no exception for YouTube), videos automatically start playing the moment I land on a YouTube video page.
    – markvgti
    May 21, 2014 at 5:43
  • I think it's because the videos play with HTML5 and not Flash.
    – Uri
    May 22, 2014 at 5:58
  • 1
    Yes, I think so too. Is there a way to stop auto-play (basically auto-load) of HTML5 videos on YouTube?
    – markvgti
    May 30, 2014 at 5:01
  • Related (for Firefox): Is there any way to disable a YouTube video from automatically starting in Firefox?
    – galacticninja
    Jul 16, 2015 at 12:05

10 Answers 10

Reset to default
8

I went to chrome://settings/content and changed the settings to "Click to Play".

This only works with Flash Videos. YouTube now uses HTML5 Video. The only way to disable auto-play is through an extension like this. Auto-loading video can also be disabled through this extension.

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Chrome will defer autoplay in background tabs in one of the next versions (46 most likely, to be released in late October). It is not yet in 45 (which is stable at the time of writing), but Canary (48) does not autoplay YouTube in background tabs when the browser is opened. I like it. However, if you pull one of the YouTube-Tabs to the foreground, the video will still start to play automatically.

Source: Blog post by François Beaufort (who also gives away the target version 46 in the comments)

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2

Try these two chrome extensions:

YouTube™ No Buffer (Stop Auto-playing) YouTube™ Stop Button

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2
  • 1
    Welcome to Super User! Please read How do I recommend software for some tips as to how you should go about recommending software. You should provide at least a link, some additional information about the software itself, and how it can be used to solve the problem in the question.
    – DavidPostill ♦
    Aug 12, 2020 at 13:17
  • the only solution that worked with me all other extensions failed ... thanks
    – zac
    Dec 4, 2022 at 18:57
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There is no way you can do it without a plugin, sorry. You can look at the other answers here for suggested plugins.

Note the statement was true in 2014 when it was written. Someone down-voted it more than four years later without stating a reason. Technology changes quickly and obviously old answers might become obsolete, so please take that into consideration and add updates in comments when necessary (as far as I know, there is no working solution without plugin in 2020). Thanks.

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https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/stop-youtube-html5-autopl/ajkibmginjljbmmpgnipfbcbmkcodaap

This plugin worked for me. I'm not a big fan of plugins but until I find a better way..

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1

I used this plugin

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/magic-actions-for-youtube/abjcfabbhafbcdfjoecdgepllmpfceif/related

It has a bundle of other options I want to have set other then just no autoplay.

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The AutoplayStopper Chrome extension can stop Flash and HTML5 media from autoplaying in YouTube and other sites. It will show the video preview thumbnail instead of autoplaying.

AutoplayStopper in action.

The YouTube High Definition Chrome extension (also a Firefox extension) can be configured to stop YouTube from auto playing videos, among other features:

YouTube High Definition screenshot - disable YouTube auto-play

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Use the "autostop" feature in the Turn Off the Lights Browser extension (for Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera, Microsoft Edge): https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/turn-off-the-lights/bfbmjmiodbnnpllbbbfblcplfjjepjdn https://www.turnoffthelights.com This stop playing automatically the HTML5 videos on all websites (with YouTube support).

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Solution without a plugin

Disable autoplay on Chrome desktop for recent version (chrome 68)

First, copy and paste 

chrome://flags/#autoplay-policy

into Google Chrome’s URL bar.
This will take you directly to a Chrome flag that you can change.

The Autoplay policy is set to

Default

when you load the page.
You’ll need to set the drop box option box to

Document user activation is required

so that you have to approve any video to play on a website.

Lastly, you’ll need to click on the blue Relaunch Now button found at the bottom of the page in order to activate the change.

More information

source for this tweak
Official developper information about autoplay function

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  • 10
    chrome://flags/#autoplay-policy has since been removed
    – Barry Chapman
    Feb 21, 2020 at 4:47
  • This answer needs to be revised, the flag is no longer part of chrome.
    – Bryce
    May 26, 2021 at 15:52
-1

it's very simple. You can stop autoplay on youtube by clicking the enter image description heredisable autoplay button

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