Why Videos Autoplay Muted

YouTube videos start muted when they play by themselves in the Home feed or search results (the inline player), and browsers such as Chrome block sound on autoplay until you have interacted with the site or have played sound there before.

YouTube videos start muted for one of two reasons. The first is YouTube's own inline player: when you point at a video on the Home page or in search results (or scroll past it in the app), it plays silently with captions on, by design (Use the inline player). The second is the browser: Chrome, like other browsers, always lets a page autoplay video with the sound off, but only lets it autoplay with sound after you have clicked or tapped on that site, or when your history of watching media there is high enough (Autoplay policy in Chrome).

Quick facts

Inline previews	Muted, captions on
Turn previews off (computer)	Profile picture > Settings > Playback and performance > Inline playback
Turn previews off (app)	Profile picture > Settings > General > Playback in feeds > Off
Previews when inline playback is off	3-second previews
Chrome's rule since	Chrome 66, April 2018
See your scores	`about://media-engagement` (also typed as `chrome://media-engagement`)

Sources: Use the inline player, YouTube Help, and Autoplay policy in Chrome, Chrome for Developers.

Why do YouTube videos play without sound on the Home page?

That is the inline player. On a computer, pointing at a thumbnail on the Home page or in search starts the video muted with captions; in the app, videos in the Home feed and search results start muted as you scroll. Tap or click the speaker icon on the preview to hear it (Use the inline player). Watching for a while this way can add the video to your watch history.

How do I turn off muted autoplay on YouTube?

On a computer:

Click your profile picture.
Click Settings.
Click Playback and performance.
Turn Inline playback off. You still get short 3-second previews.

In the YouTube app on Android, iPhone or iPad:

Tap your profile picture.
Tap Settings > General.
Tap Playback in feeds.
Choose Off (or Wi-Fi only to keep it off mobile data).

YouTube Help says the inline player may be on by default on both Wi-Fi and mobile data, and that some devices and formats skip autoplay previews to save battery.

Why does a video page or embed start muted?

Browsers decide whether a page may play sound by itself. Chrome's rules, in force since Chrome 66 in April 2018:

Muted autoplay is always allowed.
Autoplay with sound is allowed only if you have interacted with the site (a click or tap), or, on a computer, your Media Engagement Index for that site is high enough, or you installed the site as an app (added to the home screen on mobile).

The Media Engagement Index (MEI) is Chrome's per-site record of how often you watch media with sound there. A playback counts only if it lasted more than seven seconds, with sound on and unmuted, in the active tab, in a video larger than 200 by 140 pixels. Sites where you regularly watch with sound earn a high score and may autoplay with sound; a new site, or one you only visit for text, autoplays muted. So a YouTube video opened from a link in a fresh browser, or a YouTube embed on someone else's site, often starts muted, and the same video on youtube.com, where you watch every day, starts with sound.

To see your own scores, type about://media-engagement in Chrome's address bar (Chrome also accepts chrome://media-engagement). George Vanous, who runs the Freedom! network, checked his own site there on Sep 19, 2024 and found it rated "High", which is why it autoplayed with sound for him.

For site owners: an embed asked to autoplay will start muted for most visitors, and YouTube Help adds that autoplayed embeds do not add to the view count. See YouTube Embeds.

Frequently asked questions

Why do YouTube videos start muted? In the Home feed and search results, YouTube's inline player plays previews muted on purpose. On a video page or an embed, the browser blocks autoplay with sound until you have interacted with the site or have a history of watching with sound there.

How do I stop YouTube videos autoplaying on the Home page? On a computer, go to Settings, Playback and performance, and turn off Inline playback. In the YouTube app, go to Settings, General, Playback in feeds, and choose Off.

What is chrome://media-engagement? It is Chrome's page listing the Media Engagement Index for each site you visit. A high score lets that site autoplay video with sound; Chrome's documentation gives the address as about://media-engagement.

Why does a YouTube embed play muted on my website? Browsers only allow embeds to autoplay with sound after the visitor interacts with your site or has a high media engagement score there. Muted autoplay is always allowed.

Can I make YouTube unmute by default? Not with a YouTube setting: unmute with the speaker icon or YouTube's m key, and the browser will allow sound on autoplay once you have watched with sound on that site often enough. Inline previews in the feed always start muted, so turning inline playback off is the way to avoid them.