How to Turn Off Auto-Play Videos in Safari on Mac

Stopping the Sudden Blasts of Audio

There are few things more startling than opening a news article or scrolling through a social media feed in a quiet room, only for a hidden video advertisement to suddenly blast audio at full volume. Auto-playing videos are one of the most universally disliked features of the modern internet. Not only are they disruptive, but they also unnecessarily consume your internet bandwidth and drain your Mac’s battery life.

Fortunately, Apple recognises how frustrating this is. Unlike some other browsers where you have to dig into hidden developer flags or install third-party ad-blockers to combat this issue, Safari has a built-in, native setting to stop auto-playing videos. You can apply a universal rule that stops videos on every single website you visit, or you can tailor the settings so that videos play silently without sound.

How to Stop All Auto-Play Videos Universally

If you want to ensure that no video ever plays on any website unless you specifically click the ‘Play’ button, you can configure Safari’s global settings.

1. Open the Safari browser on your Mac.
2. Look at the menu bar at the very top left of your screen and click on Safari (next to the Apple logo).
3. Select Settings… from the drop-down menu (or Preferences on older versions of macOS).
4. In the Settings window, click on the Websites tab (the icon looks like a globe).
5. Look at the left-hand sidebar and scroll down until you find Auto-Play. Click on it.
6. Look at the bottom right corner of the window. You will see an option labelled When visiting other websites.
7. Click the drop-down menu next to this option and select Never Auto-Play.

That is it. From now on, whenever you visit a new website that attempts to force a video to play, Safari will block it, presenting you with a static image and a play button instead.

Understanding the Auto-Play Options

In step 7 above, you may have noticed three distinct options in the drop-down menu. It is helpful to understand exactly how each one behaves:

• Allow All Auto-Play: This is the default setting on older Macs. Websites can do whatever they want, playing videos with or without sound the moment the page loads.
• Stop Media with Sound: This is the default setting on modern Macs and often the best middle-ground. Safari will allow “silent” videos to auto-play (like a GIF or a muted background video on a company’s homepage), but if the video contains an audio track, Safari will forcibly pause it.
• Never Auto-Play: The strictest option. Safari stops everything. Even silent background videos will be frozen until you click them.

How to Change Settings for Specific Websites

Sometimes, a universal ban is too strict. For example, you might want the “Never Auto-Play” rule applied to annoying news websites, but you might actually want videos to auto-play when you visit YouTube or Netflix.

Safari allows you to create custom exceptions for individual websites.

1. Open Safari and navigate to the website you want to create a rule for (e.g., YouTube.com).
2. Click on Safari in the top menu bar, then click Settings for This Website…
3. A small panel will drop down directly from the website’s URL address bar.
4. Look for the line that says Auto-Play.
5. Click the drop-down menu next to it and select your preference specifically for this site (e.g., change it to Allow All Auto-Play).

You can manage all of these custom exceptions later by returning to Safari > Settings > Websites > Auto-Play. The large box in the centre of the window will display a list of all the websites you have created custom rules for, allowing you to easily delete them or change their permissions at any time.