Some websites may automatically play audio and video content as soon as you open the web page. If you don’t like it, Edge has the option to stop media autoplay. i.e., disable automatic video and audio play on any website/webpage. Here’s how to configure it.
Sometimes, media autoplay can be useful. This is especially true when you are expecting it. For example, if you open a YouTube video or web music player like Spotify, you’d want them to play automatically. However, when visiting a news website, you wouldn’t expect it to play a video/song at full volume. This unexpected media autoplay can be distracting and annoying at times. Not to mention, a waste of your internet bandwidth.
If you don’t like media autoplay in general, Edge lets you control this behavior. You can either block media autoplay entirely or limit it so that Edge decides whether to block autoplay or not based on your previous activity.
Let’s get started.
Block media autoplay in the Edge browser
Follow the below steps to block media autoplay in Microsoft Edge:
- Open the Edge browser.
- Click/tap the three-dotted menu icon.
- Select the “Settings” option.
- Navigate to the “Cookies and site permissions” tab.
- Click/tap on the “Media Autoplay” option.
- Set “Control if audio and video play automatically on sites” to “Block“.
- Relaunch the Edge browser.
- Media autoplay is fully blocked in Edge.
Let’s see these steps in detail:
Firstly, open the Microsoft Edge browser. To open Edge, locate its icon on the desktop, Start menu, or taskbar and click on it. This will launch the Edge browser and take you to the default homepage or the last page you were browsing.
Next, look for the three-dotted menu icon, typically located in the top-right corner of the browser window. Click or tap on this icon to open a dropdown menu with various options. Within the dropdown menu, find the option labeled “Settings” and click on it to open the Edge browser settings.
Once you are in the settings menu, you will see a list of different categories or tabs on the left side of the screen. Click on the tab labeled “Cookies and site permissions.” This tab contains settings related to website permissions and preferences.
Within the “Cookies and site permissions” tab, you will find various options and settings. Look for the option called “Media Autoplay” and click or tap on it. This option controls whether audio and video content plays automatically when you visit a website.
Now, select “Block” from the “Control if audio and video play automatically on sites” dropdown menu. This will block all media autoplay. You can select “Limit” if you want Edge to decide whether to block or not automatic video and audio play based on your past behavior on the website.
For example, if you never visited a website or if you previously paused the media autoplay, Edge will block it. Otherwise, Edge will allow autoplay.
If you want to allow specific websites to play audio and video automatically, you can add them to the allowed list. For example, you might not want to block websites like YouTube or Spotify.
To add a website to the allow list, click/tap on the “Add” button, type the full web address of the website you want to allow, and then click/tap the “Add” button.
That is it. It is that simple to disable or block media autoplay in Microsoft Edge.
Related Edge how-to guide articles:
- How to disable tab preview in Edge
- How to turn on or off image enhancement in Edge
- How to add a PDF signature in Microsoft Edge
- How to disable InPrivate mode in Edge
- How to disable follow creators feature in Edge
- How to enable and use Split Screen in Edge
- How to disable the Edge coupons feature
- How to uninstall Edge browser in Windows 11
- How to disable spell check in Edge browser
- How to enable IE Mode in the Edge browser
- How to enable DNS over HTTPS in Edge
I hope this simple and easy Windows how-to guide helped you.
If you are stuck or need help, send an email, and I will try to help as much as possible.
