How to disable auto play of videos in Chrome and Firefox browsers

When users enter certain web pages, often videos embedded there start to play automatically. Many users, including me, do not wish to run videos they didn't demand. But they play anyway. Is there a way in Browsers like Chrome or Mozilla's Firefox to deactivate the automatic play of videos? Besides it's annoying, these videos use data. When a user has a "cap" with his ISP (the maximal amount of data he can transfer every month) he might pay additional charges for a data transfer, he didn't demand. Luckily for web browser like Mozilla's Firefox and Google's Chrome there is a way, to deactivate the automatic playing of videos, like in Youtube.

Chrome and Chromium web browsers

The Chrome web browser is currently the dominant browser and holds the biggest market share. Thanks to the implementation in Android smart phones and tablets, Android ships.

Desktop

After launching the browser click into the address bar on top and type in about: flags and hit the RETURN key. On top you find a search form. Enter autoplay and click on the first find the drop down menu and choose Document user activation is required. After you restart Chrome videos should not start automatically anymore, but asks the user to confirm, he wants to run a particular video.

Chrome on Android

This is easier. Launch the Chrome browser on your tablet or smart phone and visit Settings and then Site Settings. Scroll down the media menu and select the media tab. There you must select autoplay and click the checkbox, to disable the function.

Mozilla's Firefox

The Firefox browser of Mozilla has some great features. It is highly customizable. It has among other native features the ability, to prevent videos from starting to play automatically. Click the URL bar and type in about:config. Ignore the warning and use the search form to find media.autoplay.default. Set this to "1" if it was not already set. Also find media.autoplay.allow-muted and set this to false. Restart the Firefox browser that the changes take effect

Other methods

If this isn't working for you, third party add-ons come into play. Open the Preferences menu and search for addons or extensions. There is a search form. Search for something like disable, auto play or automatic and install the appropriate extension.