How to stop video autoplay
 

I have the latest version of Firefox. I have Flashblock plus. I think I use to have something called Flashstopper but there is no version for the latest Firefox. Some videos right clicking won't even show what player is being used. I have been able to stop Adobe Flash player but most nothing else. I used to be able to stop all videos on ESPN, but they now have something called Brightcove player that defeats me. I have satellite internet with capped data so I can't waste it running videos I don't want. Worst is when a video starts without sound off the screen when I am scrolling a page. I don't understand the logic behind self starting videos when they are only broadcasting news and interviews with no ads.

It sucks, doesn't it? I started a thread awhile back complaining about the same issue..

http://www.paceadvantage.com/forum/s...d.php?t=135215

It sounds like you've already made a lot of effort, but maybe there's something in that thread worth trying.

I gave up fighting it. Pretty much everywhere starts a video now. I just get in and get out as fast as I can, if I can't pause or dismiss the video..

Looks like a lot has changed in a year. I even had a post in that thread and was a happy camper at the time blocking autoplay videos. What I was using then does not work now. It looks like the autoplay video people are a step ahead of those trying to stop them. I still don't understand the reasoning behind this as most of them aren't selling anything.

No problem here with videos autoplaying -- I use NoScript on Firefox and uMatrix on Chrome/Chromium.

With such browser add-ons/extensions, one can completely disable javascript (hence, video players), and then pick and choose which scripts to run on a web page. Videos don't play unless I enable the player's script(s).

Simple.

You probably already did this but here's what came up on a Google search.

I tried no script, that is too drastic for me pictures didn't even show up. I suppose you need to personalize it?

NoScript initially disables all javascript by default, so some sites won't have full functionality until you start enabling scripts. You can easily enable everything, or some things and not other things. Merely click on the NoScript icon for this functionality to appear.

You have to play around with it a little to become familiar with which scripts unnecessarily eat your data and those that don't. You'll learn what scripts generally enable pictures. You might also begin to wonder why scripts are needed to show pictures, as you will see many sites display pictures without javascript. Most 3rd-party/tracking scripts never need to be enabled. It all becomes 2nd nature after a little while.

If you can't get the functionality you need from a site, you can temporarily enable all scripts.

Never tried that, it seems to work so far, thanks!

For Chrome, there's a tool called "Disable HTML autoplay" you can add as an extension. A year ago, it was pretty solid. Now about 25% or so of sites get around it.

May have to try Tupper's suggestion of using a customizable tool to disable scripts. Turning off scripts within the browser itself is too drastic.

The other option is to avoid sites that use the auto-play tactic. It wasn't that long ago that right-clicking an icon was the default for videos, and even pictures back when ISP connections were slow. Now the webmasters code their content as if everyone has a 10GB pipe right to their server. Not sure why they do that, why the video content is auto-played, or why the default volume setting is 11. I guess the default user is handicapped.

There's something to be said for text-only sites.

I use Weblock (an ad blocker) at home and have no issues with videos auto playing.

On the road it continues to be an issue as the ad blocker is only enabled on my home WiFi.

I would ask that anyone using an ad blocker, please make sure you set it up to exempt my website. Our ads are not intrusive and the site doesn't wait for ads to load before the main content appears. Plus the ads allow me to keep the site running. I still work for a living, so you can rest assured I'm not making a killing off of this website...but I would like it to continue to at least pay for itself...thanks...:ThmbUp:

Feeling a little red faced that I even brought this up.

Yeah. I’m not entitled to free content. I’m not paying a subscription here so some noise at the top and sides aren’t an issue.