Take control of noisy tabs: mute by default, blacklists, and more
June 2016 update: MuteTab now mutes, knows when tabs are playing sound, and includes new features such as showing only recently noisy tabs, mute by default, and blacklists.
The extension was first released in 2011 as an experiment in providing browsers with a better sound management experience given limitations imposed by Chrome and Flash. This latest version fixes previous functionality and adds new features thanks to work done since then that gave Chrome audio indicators and tab muting and made that accessible to extensions.
MuteTab's features include:
* Shows only tabs that are playing sound now or did so recently. This is great if you have a large number of tabs open, they span across windows, or you want help identifying what was playing sound.
* Mute all tabs, background tabs, or incognito tabs by default.
* Buttons and keyboard shortcuts to mute all tabs, mute background tabs, and unmute all tabs.
* Set exceptions to muting behavior via whitelists and blacklists.
* Add your music player to a "music list" so that it gets excluded when muting all or background tabs.
* "Privacy mode" will mute all of your tabs (including your music) when you want silence; you can then unmute tabs you want to listen to. You can assign it to a keyboard shortcut, too.
* Disable automuting lets you temporarily disable all of the above behavior.
* See a count of noisy tabs you avoided hearing by hovering over the "MuteTab" text in the top left corner.
* Experimental "music ducking" feature will mute your music for you when you watch a video and unmute it afterward.
Note: Chrome made various changes since this was released. You need to either use this extension to mute/unmute or Chrome's mute site site feature and not both.
Recent Release History
6/26/2023 v3.0.11 - Remove request for unused tabCapture permission
8/5/2019 v3.0.10 - Remove unsafe-eval permission request
8/5/2017 v3.0.9 - Fix for previous fix to prevent extension from dying
7/23/2017 v3.0.8 - Added error checking that will hopefully prevent the extension from dying
5/19/2017 v3.0.7 - New keyboard shortcut available to mute background tabs and unmute the current tab
4/12/2017 v3.0.6 - Fixed a bug that prevents muting a whitelisted tab when opened in a new tab
3/19/2017 v3.0.5 - Mutes all/background tabs when settings are loaded if that is the muting behavior.
11/20/2016 v3.0.3 - Doesn't mute tab if mute background tabs is set and tab is dragged to different window.
11/20/2016 v3.0.2 - Made UI wider and left-aligning menu items on the bottom so the UI looks better at various resolutions. Let me know if butons get cut off (ideally with a screenshot) so I can make it wider if needed.
6/2016 v3.x
Latest reviews
- (2023-09-29) Curtis Laabs: "Music ducking" was exactly what I was looking for! I like to listen to music while I study, but frequently my online classes will have short videos mixed in with the reading. This automatically mutes my music while I watch the video and then unmutes when the video is over. Solved a major annoyance for me. Thank you!
- (2022-11-17) Samuel Sobreira: Good
- (2022-10-29) Saurabh: it's really wonderfull extension for tabs you can use this when you can't mute incomming sound from page directly.
- (2022-10-07) eajohnson: Mutes tabs when you switch a different tab to the foreground, but crucially does not _unmute_ that previously muted tab if you move it back to the foreground. It's hard to understand why it hasn't been designed so allow you to simply have the foreground tab unmuted and all others muted, automatically. Perhaps it's an API limitation, but it renders this useless for me.
- (2021-01-04) Joy: Amazing, just a click.
- (2021-01-01) THYCR3ATOR: the keyboard command options didnt show up for me in my extensions page, but I tried hitting alt+shift+m and I'll be damned, its almost like the Chrome devs didn't disable a useful feature in place of a shittier one. I'd recommend to anyone in need.
- (2020-11-30) Damon Davis: Works perfectly!
- (2020-10-30) Deserted Land: I'm using this extension for the new Microsoft Edge browser (which only has the option of muting tabs and not muting sites) and so I tried this extension, and it's great! Aside from muting sites, there are other options as well. My favorite one is muting tabs by default in incognito mode. Really really useful!
- (2020-09-27) I_love_victorique: pretty good! Remember you can change shortkey at chrome://extensions/shortcuts. The small window show all playing tab is very useful.
- (2020-07-20) Jakab Gipsz: Perfect for muting all sites by default and only whitelisting a few ones. Combined with Disable HTML5 AutoPlay (Reloaded), they make the internet far less noisy and annoying.
- (2020-03-14) hang feng: Very good software. Very helpful.
- (2020-03-08) DLS DLS: i hate this thing, i like its competitor i wanna mute all sound not pick one at a time, stupid windows lost mytabs when had to reinstall!
- (2020-01-12) Sky: Excellent plugin. Really helpful!
- (2019-10-28) Lee Weii: This plug in is what i have been waiting for, the best
- (2019-10-07) Jawhar Aslan: only tested if it automatically mutes incognito tabs and it does. Of course you have to enable it in "manage extensions" for incognito mode and on a fresh install you should open the incognito mode only after installation.
- (2019-06-25) mertcan: very usefull thank you very much
- (2019-05-19) Conta Secundária: Perfeito!!
- (2019-05-17) Lee Eun Eun: util
- (2019-05-07) Lee Hodsdon: Alas, this is an incomplete solution. I selected muting by default because I don't want sites blaring their noise at me when I happen to visit the site. Alas, unmuting the site is clumsy. I cannot use the volume control in the video: it will change from mute/unmute status but has no effect on the actual muting of the document (web page). The speaker icon in the tab is no longer a user-clickable object, so no changing the muting there. Right-clicking on the tab and selecting Mute/Unmute site has no effect (once this extension is in control). I have to click on this extension's toolbar icon, carefully place the mouse cursor over the dim speaker icon, and click it to change from mute to unmute. This method, the only one that works, is clumsy and error-prone. I will have to find the extension that added a toolbar icon to do the mute/unmute function. I remember using it before because this extension doesn't have a one-click mute toggle for its toolbar icon. Pity that I have to add another extension because this one is incomplete.
- (2019-02-16) Blutzen: Brought back the functionality Chrome used to have of individual tab muting that I'd been missing for months, but unfortunately the instructions for changing keyboard shortcuts seems outdated.
- (2018-11-19) osearth esp: LOVE THIS & Highly Recommend it!! Best way to find out which of my 40++ tabs is making noise and running chewing CPU. this is my favourite extension second to only "?dBlock. I wish there was a lite version that only had the ability to jump over to noisy tabs because that is all i use it for.
- (2018-11-05) Laura Scott: This plugin is great for muting background tabs. But it also mutes the active tab, and there's no setting to change that. If you mute, you end up having to unmute manually (in an awkward right-click menu) or whitelist the whole domain. I find I'm constantly scrambling to unmute a page to hear an ongoing video. If I could just know that when I play a video on a site I'm on, it's unmuted by default, and that page gets muted if I go to another tab, that would be the bee's knees.
- (2018-09-16) Alex Doster: Thank you really helped!
- (2018-06-09) Nossa!!! Muito bom bom funciona como prometido
- (2018-05-30) EXTLand Support: Здравствуйте. Я являюсь представителем компании EXTLand, которая занимается решениями в сфере монетизации браузерных расширений. Мы предоставляем 6 видов монетизации, каждая из которых подтвердила высокую эффективность. В зависимости от Ваших потребностей мы можем предложить гибкие и наиболее выгодные условия для взаимного сотрудничества, а так же, в индивидуальном порядке, настроить метод монетизации от мягкого до более жесткого. Мы работаем абсолютно по всем ГЕО и тщательно отбираем рекламу. Так же мы можем сделать предложение, от которого Вы не сможете отказаться, если Вы решили продать свое браузерное расширение. Если Вы заинтересованы в нашем предложении или имеете какие-либо вопросы или предложения, пожалуйста, свяжитесь с нами. Skype: live:extland Email: [email protected] Hello. I am a representative of EXTLand that deals with solutions in the field of monetization of browser extensions. We provide 6 types of monetization, each of which has proved to be highly effective. Depending on your needs, we can offer flexible and most beneficial terms for mutual cooperation, as well as individually adjust the monetization method from soft to tougher. We are working absolutely on all GEO and we are carefully selecting advertising. We want to pay your attention to the fact that the EXTLand system does not conflict with other partner programs, so you can easily earn extra income. If you are interested in our offer or have any questions or suggestions, please contact us. Skype: live:extland Email: [email protected]
- (2018-05-24) Martin Lichtblau: Splendid! Just the right features well done.
- (2018-04-21) Holger Kowalski: works only fine with chrome://flags/#enable-tab-audio-muting set to enable
- (2018-04-02) Gersivan Oliveira: Funciona como promete.
- (2018-03-09) Axel Yates: Does what I need it to do. When Chrome went to "mute site" this works to "mute tab" instead. 5 stars
- (2018-01-28) Kenneth Z: This is one of the best auto mute extension. All the functions and UI is well design. I have one suggestion for the context menu. It will be much easier and faster to use if you have it under one sub level menu instead of two sub levels like "Current Tab" and "All Tabs" as one sub. Also is it possible to add the feature to enable or disable audio by clicking on the mute icon on the tab? Another solution is add a popup button where the user click to unmute. It will automatically disappear in 5 seconds if no click. Make this as setting where the user can change seconds to disappear.
- (2017-12-12) wagun evans: WHAT IS COMMAND SHIFT U NO COMMAND IN WINDOWS, USELESS APS
- (2017-11-12) Kevin L.: That 's what I want
- (2017-09-05) Daniel Powless: fixed zdnet instantly.
- (2017-08-02) David Holm: Thank you oh my god
- (2017-08-01) Mara Kalat: Was working just fine, but just suddenly stopped working. Tried updating (and saving) the blacklist in the settings, but no impact. Not sure what broke.
- (2017-07-10) No Left Turns: It's very klutzy I really need a smart app that unmutes the tab I'm on and mutes all other tabs you would think no human has ever wanted that before get smarter programmers guys
- (2017-04-21) Good extension, but the mute option is already in chrome. chrome://flags/#enable-tab-audio-muting The thing that would be really interesting, would be to add a volume control per tab.
- (2017-03-22) Andrian Andersen: Probably the most thoughtful extension that deal with audio mute. Internal explanations easy to understand & do just that.
- (2017-03-15) nelamvr6: Works as advertised. Just remember to save your options.
Statistics
Installs
20,000
history
Category
Rating
4.1209 (91 votes)
Last update / version
2023-06-26 / 3.0.12
Listing languages
en