Chrome Stops Noisy Autoplay Videos

Chrome’s next edition will let you block entire sites from autoplaying videos when you visit a page. It will also have a couple of new tricks for fighting rogue pop-ups.

The changes debut in Chrome 64, which is already out in the Beta channel, meaning it should be rolled out in the standard edition in around four to six weeks.

The autoplay blocking feature has a couple of limitations. Firstly, it only applies to videos that have sound. Secondly, you can’t yet set it universally. Instead you have to do it site-by-site by clicking on the ‘View Site Information’ icon, which is either a padlock or an ‘i’ in a circle on the left-hand side of the address bar. From here you’ll be able to make the change in the Sound section of the site settings.

Meanwhile the built-in pop-up blocker in Chrome is getting updated to combat a couple of tricks. It will look for any supposed ‘Download’ or ‘Play’ buttons that actually just unleash ads. It will also be looking out for fake ‘X’ buttons that look like they close a window but, again, unleash ads. In both these cases, Chrome will block the site in question from opening any new tab or window. That’s an effective approach, though might be problematic if there are any false positives.