Google Chrome is the most used web browser in the world, and for good reason. It has a lot of options to improve your browsing experience, and these options are also updated frequently. If you’re in the middle of a sticky situation where the annoying audio on a tab won’t stop, we’ll show you how to select and mute a website’s volume in Google Chrome.
Don’t you hate it when you have a bunch of tabs open in your web browser and a website starts playing random pop-up sounds or videos in the background, even without your permission? It takes you out of your thoughts and can be very distracting if you are working on something important.
This can also be quite annoying, especially if you’re watching or listening to something else or tend to open multiple tabs with media. Fortunately, Google Chrome allows us to mute tabs specifically to eliminate these unwanted disturbances.
(Image credit: Tushar Mehta/Android Central)
Before we start the process of muting a tab, we need to identify what is the source of this sound. Google Chrome usually indicates tabs that produce audio with a speaker symbol above them. This helps us notice the tab that needs to be muted.
Alternatively, if you visit a website frequently and are bothered by the sound of unwanted alerts or videos playing in the background, you can follow the steps below to silence it.
How to mute a website in Google Chrome
(Image credit: Tushar Mehta/Android Central)
The steps to mute a tab in Google Chrome are simple and can be performed by anyone with basic internet browsing knowledge. All you have to do is follow these steps:
1. Open the website you want to mute in Google Chrome. Likewise, if you’ve come across a website that sends annoying audio alerts without your permission, you can identify it by spotting the tabs with speaker icons.
2. Right-click on this tab in the tab bar.
3. In the pop-up menu that opens when you right-click on the tab, you’ll find an option called “Mute Site”.
4. Click the option to mute the website properly.
Using this simple method, you can silence those annoying and irritating background sounds that interrupt your browsing experience. One of the benefits of this feature is that Google Chrome will mute all instances of the particular website that are running simultaneously. In addition, it will also remember your instructions and automatically mute a website in your future browsing sessions.
Once you know how to mute a tab, it’s a plus to know how to activate it as well, in case you need it again.
How to unmute a tab in Google Chrome
(Image credit: Tushar Mehta/Android Central)
The process for muting a website is similar. Follow these simple steps to unmute a muted website in Chrome:
1. Open the website or search for it from the assortment of already open tabs.
2. Right-click the tab you want to unmute.
3. Click on the option that says “Unmute Site”.
Website sound will now be properly restored.
Instead of completely muting a website, you can also mute a single tab at a time. The steps, however, are a bit more complex.
How to mute a single tab in Google Chrome
The option to mute a single tab was available in Google Chrome via a Chrome flag until version 70. But it was removed with the update to Chrome v71. Therefore, Chrome no longer offers the option to mute an individual tab.
Interestingly, however, Google has read the option, but it’s only available in the browser’s alpha channel, called Canary. You can use several new experimental features in Chrome Canary, including the ability to mute a single tab without muting all tabs associated with a website. The flag to mute or unmute a single Chrome tab in Canary can be turned on or off by entering chrome://flags/#enable-tab-audio-muting in the address bar.
In the meantime, if you want to stay on the stable version of Chrome, there is also a workaround to achieve that. Just follow the steps below:
1. Download and install the Chrome extension called “Mute Tab” from the Chrome Web Store.
2. When the extension is installed, click the extension in the list of extensions, represented by the puzzle button next to the address bar, to mute a specific tab.
3. When a tab is muted, the extension icon will change to show an “M” above the icon.
4. To unmute a tab, click the extension icon again.
5. You can pin the list extension for easy access by clicking the thumbtack icon.
(Image credit: Tushar Mehta/Android Central)
If you prefer to use hotkeys to mute or unmute tabs in Chrome, there is another Chrome extension to achieve this functionality. Mute Tab Shortcuts is a Chrome extension that allows you to mute and unmute a specific tab or all tabs in a currently open Chrome window using keyboard shortcuts.
Go ahead and try these methods to mute or unmute Chrome tabs. We would love to hear your experience and any suggestions for us.