Disable HTML5 Autoplay is a relatively self-explanatory name of a Chrome extension created by an independent developer Eloston. As its name suggests, the extension was designed to prevent the desktop version of your Chrome browser from automatically playing HTML5 videos. The extension initially hit the Chrome Web Store last year but might gain a lot of traction in the coming months seeing how Facebook is preparing to implement auto-playing HTML5 videos with sound in the near future. The Menlo Park-based social media giant recently started experimenting with automatically playing audio that will run alongside its already auto-playing videos, which many users may find annoying and will be looking for ways to prevent it from happening. If you happen to be one of them, Disable HTML5 Autoplay is worth giving a try. You can download this Chrome extension directly from the Chrome Web Store by following the source link below. Disable HTML5 Autoplay is just over 25 kilobytes in size and it shouldn’t affect the performance of your browser in any observable way.
Facebook’s decision to introduce auto-playing videos with sound to its social network isn’t too surprising seeing how this is how the Facebook mobile app has operated for years. Furthermore, the desktop version of Facebook already featured auto-playing videos that would start and stop as you were scrolling through your News Feed but their sound was disabled by default and you had to click on them to listen to any clip you’ve stumbled upon. On the bright side, Facebook promised to provide its users with an option to disable this functionality in the near future but the company’s initial announcement suggested the feature will be enabled by default.
Auto-playing videos with sound are just a part of the company’s major push into video content that started a few years back as Facebook repeatedly stated that videos are the future of the Internet. The Menlo Park-based social media firm believes people either prefer video over any other type of content or will soon develop this preference. Following that belief, the company recently introduced a number of video-focused features, many of which are directly related to its Facebook Live Video service.