Some notes on Firefox’s media autoplay settings in practice as of Firefox 124

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Autoplay policies and UX

  • Many dislike Chrome’s domain allowlist approach to autoplay; seen as complex, biased toward large platforms, and not clearly improving UX.
  • Firefox is praised by some as the only browser that “reliably” blocks autoplay, though its “allow after interaction” default is widely criticized as too permissive (scrolling or minor actions can unlock autoplay).
  • Safari is viewed as stricter and more battery‑friendly, especially on mobile, by requiring explicit interaction before video loads or plays.
  • Some report Edge/Brave/Chrome only partially blocking autoplay or blocking only audio, not video.

Large media, GIFs, bandwidth, and energy

  • Strong calls for stricter control not just on video/audio but also large GIFs and background videos, both for bandwidth and CPU/battery savings.
  • Preferences like prefers-reduced-motion and image animation controls are seen as underused; users want per‑element “play on interaction” rather than a global on/off.
  • Suggestions include: HEAD-based size checks, an “Accept-Max-Size” header, global per-page bandwidth caps, and blocking large media elements by default.
  • Others counter that these ideas are hard to implement robustly in today’s JS-heavy web.

JavaScript, SPAs, and user control

  • Many blame JS/SPAs for undermining autoplay protections (e.g., hijacked navigation in ESPN‑style sites).
  • Some propose “SPA-breaking” policies that force <a> links to behave normally unless explicitly whitelisted.
  • Others argue this would “break a major browser API” and is unrealistic; defenders say the web has evolved by breaking hostile patterns before.
  • There is strong sentiment that users, not sites, should control media behavior; JS’s ability to bypass preferences is a recurring complaint.

Tools, extensions, and configuration

  • uBlock Origin’s “no large media elements” and “click2load” filters are frequently recommended to block heavy or autoplay media.
  • On iOS Safari, an extension is mentioned to stop autoplay and other annoyances.
  • Firefox’s site permissions panel, per‑site autoplay settings, and about:config tweaks (including for picture‑in‑picture and GIF animation) are noted but seen as obscure.

Picture-in-picture (PiP)

  • Opinions are split: some use PiP heavily and like it; others find accidental PiP activation jarring and want it completely disabled.
  • Firefox allows disabling PiP entirely or just its on-video toggle via about:config.