Playing videos in Firefox for Android

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  • Revision id: 199037
  • Created:
  • Creator: Joni
  • Comment: updated with autoplay settings
  • Reviewed: Yes
  • Reviewed:
  • Reviewed by: heyjoni
  • Is approved? Yes
  • Is current revision? No
  • Ready for localization: Yes
  • Readied for localization:
  • Readied for localization by: heyjoni
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This article applies only to an experimental version of Firefox for Android (Beta/Nightly formerly called Firefox Preview) that's no longer supported. Please download the supported version of Firefox for Android at the Google Play store

Firefox Preview gives you lots of options for playing video and audio on your phone, including background playback, picture-in-picture support and auto-play settings.

Picture-in-picture mode

Picture-in-picture mode lets you continue watching a video on a website while visiting other tabs. You can even continue watching the video while using other apps.

  • Just press the home button on your phone while the video is playing to switch to picture-in-picture mode.

Disable autoplay

Easily prevent Firefox Preview from automatically playing videos/audio when you visit a website. This helps you save battery life too.

  1. Tap the menu button android menu icon
    Menu button - Template:menupreview
  2. Tap Settings.
  3. Tap Site Permissions.
  4. Tap your preferred option:
    • Block audio and video on cellular data only: Video and audio will still autoplay on Wi-Fi.
    • Block audio only: Video will autoplay without sound.
    • Block video and audio: Prevents autoplay on both video and audio.

Listen to videos in the background

If you minimize Firefox Preview while playing video/audio, it will continue to play in the background, so you can multitask on your phone.

Firefox Preview will pause playback for audio or videos that are open in your private tabs when you minimize it.

Control media playback through your notifications panel

When you play a video or audio, controls will appear in your notifications panel so you can control playback there -- without having to open Firefox Preview.

See and stop noisy tabs

Your Open Tabs section in the Firefox Preview home screen will show you whether or not any tabs are playing audio or video, along with a pause button, so you can stop playing it without opening the page.