Allow or Block Sound Play in Chrome Browser on the Computer

A video that plays with no audio, or a site that starts blaring music the moment it loads, usually comes down to one Chrome permission. You can flip it for the whole browser or just for the domain causing trouble.

Open the Sound page in Chrome settings, check the global switch first, then use the allowed and blocked lists to fix a single website. Reload the page to confirm the new rule took effect.

In this guide, I have covered:

Watch the Sound Permission Page in Action

Staring at a video with no audio, or a page that keeps blasting sound? The clip below shows Chrome’s Sound page and the global switch before you work through the steps.

Open Chrome’s Sound Permission Settings

One site gone silent, another that refuses to stop? Both come down to the same permission page in Chrome. From there you can set one rule for every website or a separate rule for a single domain.

1. Open Google Chrome on your computer.
2. Click the address bar at the top of the window.
3. Paste chrome://settings/content/sound.
4. Press Enter.

You’ll land on a page with a switch labeled Don’t allow sites to play sound, plus two lists: sites allowed to play sound and sites not allowed to play sound.

Prefer clicking to typing? The same page opens from Chrome’s main menu.

1. Click the More menu in the top-right corner.
2. Select Settings.
3. Select Privacy and security.
4. Select Site settings.
5. Select Sound. On Chrome layouts that group site permissions, this option sits under Additional content settings.

Allow Sound for All Websites in Chrome

Several sites went quiet at once, including a video, a music player, or a training module? That points to the global switch rather than one broken domain. Chrome allows website sound by default, so check this control before you change anything else.

1. Open the Sound settings page.
2. Turn off Don’t allow sites to play sound.
3. Close the Settings tab.
4. Reload the page that was silent.

You’ll know it worked when audio starts the moment the reloaded page plays. Still silent? Look for that domain in the blocked list.

Block Sound for All Websites in Chrome

Ads with audio, autoplaying music, background video that crashes into a meeting: the global block handles all of it at once. It stops web pages from playing sound, and it leaves Chrome’s own volume and everything else on your computer untouched.

1. Open the Sound settings page.
2. Turn on Don’t allow sites to play sound.
3. Close the Settings tab.
4. Reload any tab that is currently playing sound.

The tab should go quiet as soon as it reloads. Your system volume and audio in other applications stay exactly where they were.

Allow or Block Sound for One Website

Only one domain is misbehaving? A site exception beats changing the default for every website. Chrome keeps those choices in two lists, Allowed to play sound and Not allowed to play sound, and the per-site choice wins for that domain.

Change Sound Permission From the Address Bar

For a fast fix on the page that’s making noise, use Chrome’s site controls. This changes only the website open in the current tab.

1. Open the website in Chrome.
2. Click the site controls button beside the address bar.
3. Select Permissions.
4. Find Sound.
5. Set the permission to Allow or Block.
6. Reload the page.

The site follows the new permission as soon as you reload. If Sound does not appear in that panel, use the settings lists below instead.

Allow Sound for a Specific Website

A trusted site is silent and you want it back. Start by checking whether Chrome has already blocked that domain.

1. Open Sound in Chrome settings.
2. Find the site’s domain under Not allowed to play sound.
3. Open the site’s entry.
4. Set Sound to Allow.

The domain moves to Allowed to play sound. Reload the site, press play, and confirm you can hear it.

Not in the list yet? Add it as an exception.

1. Click Add beside Allowed to play sound.
2. Type the site’s domain, such as youtube.com.
3. Click Add to save the entry.
4. Open the new entry.
5. Select Allow.

Block Sound for a Specific Website

Chat windows, meeting pages, ad-heavy sites: a single block keeps them quiet without touching anything else. The rest of Chrome keeps its normal sound setting.

1. Open Sound in Chrome settings.
2. Find the site’s domain under Allowed to play sound.
3. Open the site’s entry.
4. Set Sound to Block.

The domain should move to Not allowed to play sound. Reload the page to cut off audio that was already playing.

Not listed yet? Add it to the blocked list.

1. Click Add beside Not allowed to play sound.
2. Type the site’s domain, such as example.com.
3. Click Add to save the entry.

TIP: Site rules override the global switch. A blocked domain stays silent even after you turn sound back on for every other website.

Know Which Chrome Sound Control Does What

Sound still misbehaving after a change? It helps to know what each control can and cannot do. Chrome’s site sound permission decides whether web content may play audio. That’s all it does.

It does not touch your computer’s volume, mute a whole tab, grant microphone access, or override Chrome’s separate autoplay rules.

• Site sound permission decides whether a website may play sound.
• Tab mute silences one tab. The site’s saved permission stays as it was.
• System volume covers audio from Chrome and every other app on the computer.

The page loads fine but stays quiet? Check the sound permission first. If the page itself is incomplete or a sign-in keeps failing, cookies may be the cause. Block or Allow Browser Cookies in Chrome on the Computer walks through those settings.

Chrome on Android uses its own sound controls, so reach for the platform-specific guide if you also manage Chrome on a phone.

RELATED: control the sound permissions in Chrome on Android