Thanks to a flag, Google Chrome browser now autoplays video/audio in background tabs again. Google has promoted Chrome 47 to stable channel and is now available for Windows, Mac and Linux platforms.
With Chrome 46, to optimize browser performance and to conserve power Search engine giant has decided to defer playback for media in background tabs, then Chromium team hasn’t provided any setting or option to disable that behavior for those users who actually want auto-play enabled for tabs open in background.
Finally, upon users request and feedback, a new flag has been added to Chrome 47 which allows media to playback even if the tab is not foregrounded.
“Currently, there is no way to disable this behaviour that media playback in the background does not start until the tab is brought to the foreground. Not all Chrome users want media playback to be stopped until itis brought to the foreground. Many users, especially those who want to listen to music in the background while browsing the Internet, do not wish to bring the tab to the foreground in order to start the song or video.”
Disable gesture requirement for media playback is that flag, available for Mac, Windows, Linux, Chrome OS and Android.
This is what this flag will do:Disable user gesture requirement for playing media elements. Activating this will allow autoplay to work.
Disable defer media playback in background tabs in Google Chrome
1. Visit chrome://flags/#disable-gesture-requirement-for-media-playback from chrome address bar
2. Click ‘Enable‘ button and restart the browser.
Note: You can find this flag is Chrome 47 or later versions only, but not in Chrome 46 or versions prior to it.