Google just gave us a very long overdue gift: the ability to browse in silence.

That's because Google Chrome will finally mute annoying autoplaying videos by default. The update, part of Google Chrome 66, launched today for the browser's desktop and mobile apps.

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With the update, you'll no longer have to manually mute sites that autoplay videos with sound. Instead, Chrome will block the videos from playing altogether (note that videos set to autoplay without sound will still play).

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The only exception will be sites where you've "previously shown an interest in media on the site." So expect sites like YouTube, where you've likely engaged with a lot of video in the past, to still play as they normally would. (Gizmodo also has a good breakdown on how Google determines what sites you're "interested" in.)

This also applies to mobile browsing (unless you have a website saved to your home screen), which is nice because it can be much more difficult to spot and manually mute the offending site in a mobile browser.

So go ahead and browse with the sound on -- Chrome (finally) has your back.

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