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How to Allow or Block Sound Autoplay in Firefox Computer

Firefox browser has updated its autoplay policy to allow media with sound to play automatically on websites only if the user has interacted with the site or if the site has been added to the user’s exceptions list. However, it also has the option to disable and block the autoplay for the websites. You can customize the option for all sites.

Many websites that play music or videos without your consent are bound to annoy you. One must know how to shut it off. Probably that’s the reason why you are here.

I am a blogger and spend most of my time reading articles. But these days, whenever I open any website, the video advert starts playing automatically. This ad music is annoying enough to ruin my browsing experience and create a panic when sitting in the library. So I have decided to find a permanent solution to stop sound and even auto-playing.

There are two ways to handle this issue in the Firefox browser. You can either disable sound access for all websites or stop autoplay media on a site.

I found the second option to disable autoplay better; however, I’ve mentioned both in this article.

Block Audio Permissions

Who likes distractions while they are reading or working? The loud music or useless videos that start playing automatically can ruin your mood. Hence, we have no option but to turn off the sound.

Follow these steps to block sound in Firefox for all sites: 

  1. Launch the Firefox browser on the computer.
  2. Click on More horizontal 3bar icon for the menu list.
  3. Choose the Settings tab from the list.
    How to block sound acess in Firefox computer
  4. Switch to Privacy & Security tab from the left pane.
  5. Scroll down to the Permission section.
  6. Click on the Settings… button next to the Autoplay.
    How to Allow or Block Sound Access in Firefox Computer?
    This will open the Autoplay Settings window.
  7. From the Default for all websites drop-down, select the Block Audio option.
    How to block sound access in Firefox computer
  8. Hit the Save Changes command button.

The Block Audio will prevent the websites from playing music automatically. The downside of blocking all websites is that they will no longer play audio even on streaming sites like YouTube or Spotify.

Stop Autoplay for Site

Instead of blocking all the sites, we should block specific sites you often visit. We can block sound and video autoplay for a single website on a Firefox computer.

This can be done using two simple ways mentioned below. You can use either the Auto Play or the Page info option.

Using Autoplay Icon Settings

When browsing a site that supports media streaming or autoplay, you will notice an Autoplay firefox autoplay icon in the address bar. Clicking on this autoplay icon will help you manage that particular website’s autoplay settings.

Here are steps to block sound access by using autoplay settings: 

  1. Launch the Firefox browser on the computer.
  2. Open a streaming site or a site where you want to disable autoplay.
  3. Click on Autoplay firefox autoplay icon within the URL bar.
  4. Under the Permissions section, set the Autoplay setting to Block Audio.
    How to block sound access for single webiste in Firefox computer using Autoplay settings

That’s it. The autoplay will stop for that specific site. You will no longer hear anything from that blocked site unless allowed again.

Using Page Info Window

You can also manage the audio setting in the Firefox computer using the page info window. The page info allows managing the granular permissions to the site within the Firefox browser.

Here are the steps to block autoplay using the page info in Firefox: 

  1. Launch the Mozilla Firefox browser.
  2. Open any site where you want to disable autoplay.
  3. Right-click anywhere and choose View page info.
    Use Page Info Window To Disable Camera And Microphone Access In Firefox Computer
  4. Switch to the Permissions tab.
  5. Under the Autoplay section, uncheck the Use Default option.
  6. Next, switch the radio button and choose Block Audio.
    how to block sound access for single website in Firefox using page info window
  7. Close the window to save the changes and reload the website page.

This will block the media autoplay option for the site within the Firefox browser.

I prefer this autoplay option to stop the video and audio from playing in the background. This will only disable the audio on the selected site.

Allow Sound Access in Firefox

Some websites may require sound access. For such websites, granting them access to sound permissions is better. By default, the sound is enabled for all the sites unless you’ve disabled it.

Here are the steps to allow sound access to sites on Firefox: 

  1. Launch the Firefox browser on the computer.
  2. Click on More horizontal 3bar icon for the menu list.
  3. Choose the Options tab from the list.
  4. Switch to Privacy & Security tab and scroll down to the Permissions section.
  5. Click on the Settings… available next to the Autoplay. 
    How to allow sound access in firefox computer
  6. From the Default for all websites dropdown, choose to Allow Audio and Video.
  7. Click on Save Changes.
    How to allow sound access in Firefox computer

This will grant audio and video play access to all websites. The sites like YouTube may require sound access to play videos. It is suggested to allow it for such websites.

Allow Sound for Single Site

Like we have made the changes in autoplay permissions to disable the sound access to a single site, we can also do the same to allow specific sites in Firefox. However, the website should have been blocked from sound permissions first.

This method will help unmute the sites that were disabled to autoplay audio and video.

Follow these steps to allow sound access to a single website: 

  1. Launch the Mozilla Firefox browser.
  2. Click More horizontal 3bar icon for the menu and choose the Options tab.
  3. Switch to Privacy & Security tab and scroll down to the Permissions section.
  4. Click on the Settings… option next to Autoplay.
    How to allow sound access for single website in Firefox computerYou can see all websites that are blocked for sound access earlier.
  5. Click on the URL of the website you want to enable sound.
  6. Change the Status to Allow Audio and Video from the drop-down.
  7. Click on Save Changes.
    How to allow sound access for single website in Firefox computer

This will allow the audio from a site previously blocked from the sound or autoplay permissions. This will also help resolve the issues with audio not playing in Firefox. We need to verify if the setting is correct.

Bottom Line: Sound Access Firefox

Allow or blocking audio in Firefox computer functionality will help you improve your browsing experience. I’ve mentioned every possible setting for audio and video autoplay.

After following these steps, I have effectively eliminated the annoying music ads. Now I can browse websites without worrying about the annoying audio. You can also block the complete autoplay of audio and video using the same settings page, but you must choose a different option.

Have you blocked the excellent access for all the websites? Or have you chosen to disable the autoplay for any specific site?

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Suresh Choudhary

Suresh has done a Master of Computer Application in Computer Science and has extensive knowledge of computer technology and application. He has 5+ years of experience in technical content writing. Connect him on LinkedIn.

4 thoughts on “How to Allow or Block Sound Autoplay in Firefox Computer”

  1. This is deep explanation! I got the link to this article from one support member after I asked them to fix loss of sound when a message arrived from my prospective client.

  2. Why writing such a long guide when it does not work?
    I always have auto-play blocked for all sites, but yahoo news pages still play video with audio

  3. i find it very annoying that you cannot manually enter a site or URL to allow media rather than waiting for the request to be denied by FF and going in to allow it.
    Mozilla has become very main stream and draconian like IE or Edge

    Will be ditching it after 10+ years

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