Autoplaying videos on Firefox will soon be played on mute by default

Don’t you just hate it when a video just starts playing in the background on your browser and disturbs the peace? Well, Mozilla is doing its part to make sure you aren’t annoyed by the sounds of an autoplaying video. The upcoming Firefox 66 version will automatically mute any autoplaying video or audio clip, unless you actively click on the play button. You can also manually allow sites to autoplay videos—like YouTube, where it’s expected that people want videos to play as normally as possible. There will be a new icon that pops up in the URL bar when a site blocks an autoplaying video or audio clip.

What you must remember though is the videos will continue to play, you just won’t be able to hear them. So, you still need to keep an eye out for these bandwidth-hogging videos. Also, sites where users allow the browser to access their camera and microphone are exempted. These are typically used for audio and video conferences, so the exception makes sense. This feature is expected to roll out on March 19^th.

Source: TechCrunch