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Edge Removes The Block Option from Media AutoPlay Blocking

The latest Canary update of the Chromium-based Microsoft Edge browser brought a change to the Media AutoPlay Blocking feature. Previously, the user could choose between Allow, Limit, and Block. Now the Block option is removed from the GUI and is hidden behind a flag.

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As you may remember, the classic Microsoft Edge app had a set of features to block autoplaying media content on web pages. Starting in Edge 78.0.272.0, the same features are available in the Chromium-based version of the Edge browser. You can find the options under Settings > Site permissions > Media autoplay:

Edge Chromium Media Autoplay

As you can see in the screenshot above, the available options were Allow, Limit, and Block.

Now, check out how it looks in the latest Canary build (see the actual versions below).

Edge Media AutoPlay Block Removed

As you can see, the Block option is missing.

However, it wasn't removed completely. You still can restore it with a flag.

To re-enable the Media AutoPlay Block Option in Microsoft Edge,

  1. Open Microsoft Edge Chromium.
  2. Type edge://flags/#edge-autoplay-user-setting-block-option into the address bar and hit the Enter key.
  3. Enable the flag Show block option in autoplay settings using the drop-down menu next to the flag name.Edge Re Enable Media Autoplay Block Option
  4. Relaunch the browser when prompted.Edge Flags Restart Prompt

This will restore the option.

Edge Media Autoplay Block Restored

It's not clear what exactly made Microsoft to implemented this change. I hope to see some details with the next Dev build of Edge, which usually comes with a detailed change log.

As you may already know, Microsoft is currently using three channels to deliver updates to Edge Insiders. The Canary channel receives updates daily (except Saturday and Sunday), the Dev channel is getting updates weekly, and the Beta channel is updated every 6 weeks. The stable channel is also on its way to users.

Actual Microsoft Edge Versions

The actual pre-release versions of Edge Chromium at the moment of this writing are as follows:

I have covered many Edge tricks and features in the following post:

Hands-on with the new Chromium-based Microsoft Edge

Also, see the following updates.

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Author: Sergey Tkachenko

Sergey Tkachenko is a software developer who started Winaero back in 2011. On this blog, Sergey is writing about everything connected to Microsoft, Windows and popular software. Follow him on Telegram, Twitter, and YouTube.

5 thoughts on “Edge Removes The Block Option from Media AutoPlay Blocking”

    1. when you open a page with a video, what happens? Here, it plays video automatically, but doesn’t play sounds.

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