How to Use Google Chrome Picture-in-Picture Mode to Watch Videos While Browsing

The Distraction-Free Video Experience

If you are writing a research paper, organizing an Excel spreadsheet, or casually scrolling through Twitter, you might also want to keep an eye on a live news broadcast, a Twitch stream, or a YouTube tutorial.

Historically, doing this on a single monitor required constantly switching back and forth between your work tab and your video tab, or awkwardly resizing two Chrome windows side-by-side, which ruins the layout of modern websites.

To solve this, Google Chrome includes a native Picture-in-Picture (PiP) mode. This feature detaches a playing video from its webpage and floats it in a small, resizable, always-on-top window. You can freely browse other tabs, or even minimize Chrome entirely and use other desktop applications, and the video will continue to float in the corner of your screen.

Step 1: Using the Right-Click Method (YouTube)

The easiest way to trigger Picture-in-Picture mode works flawlessly on YouTube, but it requires a specific, hidden trick.

1. Open a YouTube video in Google Chrome.
2. Right-click anywhere on the playing video. A black YouTube menu will appear (showing options like “Loop” and “Copy video URL”).
3. Do not click anything on that menu. Instead, right-click a second time, slightly outside of the first black menu (but still on the video player).
4. A completely different, standard white Chrome context menu will appear.
5. Click Picture in picture.

The video will instantly pop out of the webpage and appear in the bottom right corner of your screen. The original YouTube video player in the browser tab will turn black and display “This video is playing in Picture-in-Picture mode.”

Step 2: Using the Global Media Controls

The double-right-click trick works for YouTube, but it often fails on sites with custom video players (like Vimeo, Netflix, or news websites) that block right-clicking.

For these sites, you must use Chrome’s Global Media Control button.

1. Start playing a video on any website.
2. Look at the very top right corner of the Google Chrome window, next to your profile icon and extension puzzle piece. You will see an icon that looks like a music note with three horizontal lines.
3. Click this icon. A dropdown menu will appear showing the currently playing media.
4. At the bottom of this media card, click the Picture in picture icon (it looks like a small square pushing out of a larger square).

The video will pop out, bypassing any right-click restrictions imposed by the website.

Step 3: Controlling the Floating Window

Once the Picture-in-Picture window is active, it behaves like an independent mini-application.

• Resize: Hover your mouse over any edge or corner of the floating window until the cursor turns into a double-arrow. Click and drag to make the video larger or smaller.
• Move: Click and drag anywhere in the center of the video to move it to any corner of your monitor.
• Pause/Play: Hover over the video to reveal the pause button in the center.

Note: You cannot scrub through the timeline, fast-forward, or rewind from the floating window. You must return to the original tab to change the video position.

Step 4: Using PiP Outside of Chrome

The most powerful aspect of Chrome’s Picture-in-Picture mode is that it is not restricted to the browser.

Once the video is floating, you can completely minimize Google Chrome. You can open Microsoft Word, Photoshop, or your email client, and the video will remain perfectly overlaid on top of your work. It is pinned to the operating system’s top graphical layer.

Step 5: Closing the Video

When you are finished watching, you have two options to close the Picture-in-Picture window:

1. Hover over the floating video and click the X in the top right corner. This stops the video entirely.
2. Hover over the floating video and click the Back to tab icon in the center (it looks like a small square returning to a larger square). This snaps the video back into the original Chrome tab and pauses it, allowing you to resume exactly where you left off later.

Warning: If you completely close the original Chrome tab that is hosting the video, the floating Picture-in-Picture window will also instantly vanish.