What automatic picture-in-picture does
Normally you start picture-in-picture yourself. With the automatic mode, Chrome does it for you: when you leave a tab where a video is playing, the video moves into a floating window, and it returns to the page when you come back to the tab.
How to turn it on
- Make sure Chrome is version 142 or later (
chrome://settings/help). - Open
chrome://flags/#browser-initiated-automatic-picture-in-picture. - Set Browser initiated automatic picture in picture to Enabled.
- Click Relaunch.
- Play a YouTube video with sound and switch to another tab.
- The first time, Chrome asks whether the site may use automatic picture-in-picture. Choose Allow.
When it does not start
According to Chrome's documentation, the automatic mode starts only when all of these are true:
- the video has a sound track, is unmuted and was audible in the last moments;
- it plays in the main page, not inside an embedded frame;
- only one such player is playing;
- the site is not using your camera or microphone;
- no picture-in-picture window is open already.
Chrome may also require that you have watched media on the site before, unless you have already allowed the site explicitly.
How to turn it off
- For one site: click the icon to the left of the address → Site settings → set the automatic picture-in-picture permission to Block.
- Everywhere: set the flag back to Default and relaunch.
Prefer to choose when the video pops out?
Automatic picture-in-picture starts every time you switch tabs. If you would rather pop out only the videos you choose, Youtube Pop Out Player adds a pop-out button to the YouTube player and a keyboard shortcut for the same window.
Source: Chrome for Developers, Automatic picture-in-picture initiated by the browser.