How to mute a tab

Discovering how to mute a tab is vital if you don’t want to be plagued by loud, unexpected video ads on websites.

All popular web browsers let you control the audio of individual tabs for more customized browsing. Whether for work or listening to music/podcasts without disturbance, muting a tab is handy for a distraction-free browsing environment.

In this guide, we’ll show you how to mute tabs on Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Firefox, Opera, and Safari. And if you want to optimize your browsing experience further, consider our roundup of the best ad blockers.

Steps for how to mute a tab

Mute site on Chrome: right-click the tab then click Mute Site.
Mute tab on Chrome: Add Tab Muter extension, then click the mute icon.
Edge, Firefox, Opera, and Safari: click the speaker icon on the tab to mute it.

Step by step guide to mute a tab

As of May 2024, Google Chrome has an option to mute sites, but not to mute tabs. To demonstrate how to mute tabs on Chrome, we’ve used the Tab Muter extension, but you could select a different one.

1. Mute a site on Google Chrome

(Image: © Future)

Right-click the tab (at the top) and select Mute Site from the drop-down menu. This will mute all tabs that contain pages from the same website.

2. Mute a tab on Google Chrome

Screenshot of the Tab Muter extension in the Chrome Web Store, with a red arrow pointing at Add to Chrome.

(Image: © Future)

Select the Tab Muter extension in the Chrome Web Store, click Add to Chrome, and then confirm by clicking Add Extension. Once added, go to the tab you want to mute and click the Mute Tab icon in the toolbar. To ensure the extension is easily accessible, click the Extensions icon in the Chrome toolbar and select the pin icon beside Tab Muter.

3. Mute a tab on Microsoft Edge, Firefox, Opera, and Safari

Screenshot of a Microsoft Edge tab, with red arrows pointing at the speaker icon on the tab, at Mute tab, and at the Ctrl + M shortcut.

(Image: © Future)

There are three ways to mute tabs on Microsoft Edge and Mozilla Firefox:

1. Right-click the tab and select Mute Tab from the dropdown menu.

2. Click the speaker icon on the tab.

3. Hit Ctrl + M on your keyboard.

For Opera and Safari, the first two methods listed above work, but not the keyboard shortcut.

Final thoughts

Muting tabs goes a long way in creating a more focused and interruption-free browsing experience. And with the steps outlined above, you can conveniently mute Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Opera, and Safari tabs.

Looking for more tips to optimize your browsing experience? Learn how to get Firefox dark mode, how to view and clear your web browsing history in Safari, and how to use profiles in Chrome.