The Autoplay Annoyance
When you browse through folders in macOS Finder and pause on a video file, the Finder’s built-in Quick Look preview (visible in the preview pane on the right, or when pressing the spacebar) will automatically begin playing the video with audio. This auto-preview is also triggered when you select a video file in Gallery view or Column view, where the preview pane is always visible. If you are browsing a folder containing dozens of video clips — such as a project directory from a video editing session — every single click on a different file triggers a new video playback, complete with sound. This is distracting, consumes CPU resources, and can be embarrassing if unexpected audio blares during a meeting.
Disabling Video Auto-Preview in Finder
To stop macOS from automatically playing video previews when you select or hover over video files in Finder, you need to adjust how Finder displays file previews.
Open Finder. If you are currently in Gallery or Column view (which show large previews), switch to List or Icon view by clicking the corresponding view buttons in the Finder toolbar. In List and Icon views, video previews do not auto-play when a file is selected. If you want to keep Column view but prevent auto-play, click on a video file and look at the preview pane on the right. The video will start playing automatically; click the pause button to stop it. Unfortunately, there is no global Finder preference to disable auto-play universally in Column/Gallery views. The most effective workaround is to disable the preview pane entirely: go to View > Hide Preview in the Finder menu bar (or press Shift + Cmd + P). You can still preview any file on demand by selecting it and pressing the spacebar to open Quick Look, which gives you a play button rather than auto-starting.