Microsoft to let users block unwanted autoplay videos in Edge

SAN FRANCISCO: Microsoft has started testing the new block feature with Edge testers in the Canary channel, which will allow users to fully block web videos from automatically playing in the Edge browser.

"We have heard your requests for strict blocking of media autoplay, and we are excited to share it is now available! Edge Canary now has a new autoplay setting, Block, this allows you to stop all media on a site from automatically playing," Microsoft said.

Moreover, the company said that this setting is more restrictive than the existing 'Limit' option and it blocks automatic playback on all sites regardless of previous usage.

To enable this feature users will need to navigate to edge://settings/content/mediaAutoplay in the address bar and select Block from the drop-down menu to try it.

Alternatively, users can go to Settings > Cookies and Site Permissions > Media Autoplay to enable this feature.

We have started making the feature available to some of our Canary users and will continue to make it available to more customers over the coming weeks, the company said.

In January, Microsoft rolled out a new update to its Edge browser, which brings a small handful of updates and new features, including text prediction.

The update is available for the stable version of Edge, so any user who uses the browser regularly should be able to download it.