How to Stop Autoplaying Videos with Sound in Safari on Mac

Browsing news portals, entertainment blogs, and lifestyle websites on a Mac can frequently result in loud video advertisements or floating media players blaring music without your consent. In addition to being jarring in quiet offices or libraries, autoplaying video consumes system memory, drains laptop battery life, and wastes cellular hotspot bandwidth. Safari includes robust, granular media controls that let you silence noisy auto-play video globally or configure individual website rules.

Why Block Autoplaying Videos in Safari?

Enforcing autoplay restrictions delivers noticeable browsing improvements:

• Peaceful Reading: Prevents loud commercial audio from startling you when opening multiple tabs in the background.
• Conserve Battery & RAM: Stops resource-intensive video decoder engines from running on web pages you only opened to read text.
• Flexible Website Exceptions: Keep auto-play blocked across general websites while allowing it on platforms like YouTube, Netflix, or Vimeo.

Method 1: Stop Autoplay Videos for the Current Website

If a specific news or blogging website consistently launches loud videos:

1. Navigate to the offending website in Safari on your Mac.
2. Click on the Safari menu in the top-left menu bar.
3. Select Settings for [Website Name]… (or right-click directly in the Smart Search address bar and select Settings for This Website…).
4. A popover settings card will appear. Locate the Auto-Play dropdown menu.
5. Choose your preferred restriction:
   • Stop Media with Sound: The video will still play silently, but sound is permanently blocked until you manually click the video player.
   • Never Auto-Play: Prevents the video player from loading or streaming entirely until you physically click the play button.
6. Click anywhere outside the popover to save your preference.

Method 2: Block Autoplay Globally Across All Websites

To enforce a strict policy where no website on the internet can autoplay audio:

1. Open Safari on your Mac.
2. Click on Safari > Settings (or press Cmd + ,).
3. Click on the Websites tab along the top toolbar.
4. In the left sidebar, click on Auto-Play.
5. Look at the bottom-right corner for the dropdown labelled When visiting other websites:.
6. Change it to Never Auto-Play (or Stop Media with Sound).
7. Review the list above to set custom allowances for video streaming platforms you trust.