Enable save as MHTML option in Google Chrome

For years, Internet Explorer has supported saving a web page as a single file web archive (.MHT). You might be surprised to know that Google Chrome has also added native support for saving pages as MHTML but it is not enabled by default. MHTML is an extremely convenient format for sharing with someone because everything from the HTML page is saved to a single *.mhtml file - all the text, CSS styles, scripts and even images will be saved. It also keeps your folder with saved web pages tidier. Let me show you how to activate the MHTML support in Google Chrome without using add-ons or plugins.

Update: The method described below doesn't work anymore. The flag is removed starting in Chrome 77. Here are the updated instructions.

To enable MHTML support in Google Chrome, do the following:

  1. Right-click on the Google Chrome Desktop shortcut.
  2. Select Properties from the context menu.
  3. Modify the Target text box value. Add the command line argument --save-page-as-mhtml after the chrome.exe portion.
  4. Click OK and confirm the UAC prompt.
  5. Restart the browser using your new shortcut.

Now, right-click on any area of the page and select "Save as", and ensure that the Save dialog has the "Web Page, single file" file type selected by default.

You are done.

Using the flag (For older Google Chrome versions)

  1. Open the Google Chrome browser and type the following text in the address bar:
    chrome://flags/#save-page-as-mhtml

    This will open the flags page directly with the relevant setting.

  2. Click the Enable link under this option. It will change its text to Disable.
  3. Restart Google Chrome by closing it manually or you can also use the Relaunch button which will appear at the very bottom of the page.

After Chrome restarts, check out the Save dialog - just press Ctrl + S keys on any open tab. The browser will offer you to save it as a single file:


That's it! Unfortunately, Google Chrome does not always correctly open MHT files saved by other browsers.

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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.

4 thoughts on “Enable save as MHTML option in Google Chrome”

  1. — save-as-Mhtml work great in the chrome shortcut only. If you open chrome from anywhere else it won’t work. I still haven’t figured out how to set it up in the program properties itself.

  2. Chrome doesn’t have the “Enable save as MHTML option” listed in the abundant available options. Must have changed with 2021 no longer supporting Flash update. Also, I don’t know what “changing how Chrome can save” has to do with changing the default browser where Outlook 2016 opens an e-mail in 2021.

  3. Same issue. Chrome doesn’t have a MHTML option available as a flag to clear. Additionally trying to modify the target results in errors.

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