Skip to main content

Microsoft is making it easier to block annoying autoplay videos in Edge

Microsoft is making it easier to block annoying autoplay videos in Edge

/

You’ll be able to fully block web videos from automatically playing in Microsoft’s Edge browser.

Share this story

The Microsoft Edge web browser logo against a swirling blue background.
Image: The Verge

Microsoft Edge is getting a block feature for autoplay videos. Microsoft has started testing the new block addition with Edge testers in the Canary channel, providing a this new option alongside existing allow and limit options for auto playing web videos.

The Microsoft Edge team says it has “heard your requests for strict blocking of media autoplay” after previously only offering a “limit” option that lets media autoplay depending on whether you’ve visited the page in the past and how you’ve interacted with it. The more restrictive block option is currently being rolled out. “We have started making the feature available to some of our Canary users and will continue to make it available to more customers over the coming weeks,” says Microsoft’s Edge team.

The new block option for autoplay videos in Edge.
The new block option for autoplay videos in Edge.
Screenshot by Tom Warren / The Verge

If you don’t want to wait for the option, you can force it to appear right now. Microsoft has been quietly testing this new block option for a couple of years, and Neowin notes that enabling the “edge://flags/#edge-autoplay-user-setting-block-option” flag will allow you to turn on the block option in the site permissions / Media autoplay section of Edge settings on the regular stable release of the browser.

While Microsoft is adding a useful autoplay videos block feature to Edge, the company is also planning to add a far less useful built-in cryptocurrency wallet for Edge. Microsoft has been testing the crypto wallet feature internally and is expected to eventually ship it to consumers with “simplified experiences that make Web3 easier to interact with.”