Starting from THRON Player version 1.1.9 autoplay management changed due to new browsers' regulations. In this article we will report the autoplay policies of all the main browsers. In order to comply with all the policies and to ensure the best possible user experience, THRON has decided to force mute when a video is embedded with autoplay on. Only this setting will ensure the proper trigger of the autoplay in 100% cases without incurring in a block by the browser being used.

Chrome Autoplay Policy

Chrome's autoplay policies are simple:

• Muted autoplay is always allowed.
• Autoplay with sound is allowed if:
  • User has interacted with the domain (click, tap, etc.).
  • On desktop, the user's Media Engagement Index threshold has been crossed, meaning the user has previously played video with sound.
  • The user has added the site to their home screen on mobile or installed the PWA on desktop.
• Top frames can delegate autoplay permission to their iframes to allow autoplay with sound.

Reference: https://developers.google.com/web/updates/2017/09/autoplay-policy-changes

Firefox Autoplay Policy

Firefox blocks all media with sound from playing automatically, by default.

Reference: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/block-autoplay

Microsoft Edge/IE Autoplay Policy

Microsoft Edge provides customers with the ability to personalize their browsing preferences on websites that autoplay media with sound in order to minimize distractions on the web and converve bandwidth. Additionaly, Microsoft Edge automatically suppress autoplay of media in background tabs.

Users can customize media behavior with both global and per-site autoplay controls, which provide the following options:

• Allow is the default and will continue to play videos when a tab is first viewed in the foreground, at the site’s discretion.

• Limit will restrict autoplay to only work when videos are muted, so users are never surprised by sound. Once the user clicks anywhere on the page, autoplay is re-enabled, and will continue to be allowed within that domain in that tab.

• Block will prevent autoplay on all sites until users directly interact with the media content.

Reference: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/dev-guide/browser-features/autoplay-policies

Safari Autoplay Policy

Safari uses an automatic inference engine to block media elements with sound from auto-playing by default on most websites. Safari 11 also gives users control over which websites are allowed to auto-play video and audio by opening Safari’s new “Websites” preferences pane, or through the “Settings for This Website…” option in the Safari menu. Further, a new power-saving feature prevents silent videos from auto-playing when either hidden in a background tab or otherwise off-screen.

Reference: https://webkit.org/blog/7734/auto-play-policy-changes-for-macos/