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Hate noisy autoplaying videos? Google Chrome will finally block them by default

Next month, Chrome will start to block autoplaying videos with unmuted audio.
Written by Liam Tung, Contributing Writer

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Google has announced that Chrome 66, currently in beta, will bring its promised block on autoplaying videos with sound.

Google announced the block in September, shortly after Apple announced tighter restrictions on annoying autoplay video content in Safari 11.

Google intended to deliver it in Chrome 64 in January, but it has now decided the block on autoplay video will come with Chrome 66, which is scheduled for stable release in mid-April.

Google's policy allows autoplay if the video is muted or doesn't have audio, or if the user has interacted with the site.

"As announced earlier, autoplay is now allowed only when either the media won't play sound, after the user clicks or taps on the site, or (on desktop) if the user has previously shown an interest in media on the site," Google says in its Chrome 66 Beta announcement.

"This will reduce unexpected video playbacks with sound when first opening a web page."

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Chrome already has a setting that allows users to disable sound permanently on specific sites.

Google's Chrome ad-filter partner, The Coalition for Better Ads, is tackling auto-playing video ads, while Chrome 66 targets all video content, for example, as part of a news story.

Google outlined in January that part of its motivation for getting tougher on autoplay video was to reduce the incentives to install ad blockers.

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