Short answer: on a computer, start the video, select Media control at the top right of Chrome, then select Enter picture-in-picture. The video moves into a small window that stays on top of your other tabs, and you can drag it anywhere on the screen. These steps are from Google’s Chrome Help.
Watch a video in picture-in-picture on a computer
- Open Chrome on your computer.
- In a tab, play a video.
- At the top right, select Media control.
- Select Enter picture-in-picture.
- Keep browsing in other tabs. To move the small video window, select it and drag it.
The Media control button also lets you pause the video or jump back to the tab it is playing in.
Picture-in-picture keyboard shortcut
Google’s list of Chrome keyboard shortcuts has none for picture-in-picture. Google makes a small extension that adds one: Picture-in-Picture Extension (by Google). Once it is installed, press Alt + P on Windows, Linux or Chromebook, or Option + P on a Mac, while a video is playing.
- Open the extension’s Chrome Web Store page from the link above.
- Select Add to Chrome. If Chrome asks, select Add extension.
- Play a video and press the shortcut.
Stop sites from opening picture-in-picture by themselves
Some music and video sites can switch to a mini player on their own when you change tabs. Google calls this automatic picture-in-picture, and a site can only do it if its developer has turned it on. The Chrome developer blog describes how it works. The first time a site tries it, Chrome asks you to choose Allow this time, Allow on every visit or Don’t allow.
To turn it off for every site:
- In Chrome, select More (the three dots at the top right), then Settings.
- Select Privacy and security, then Site settings.
- Under Permissions, select Additional permission settings, then Automatic picture-in-picture.
- Choose Don’t allow sites to enter picture-in-picture automatically.
To change it for one site only, go to that site, select the icon to the left of the web address (Google’s help calls it Page info), then change Automatic picture-in-picture there. Automatic picture-in-picture is off in Incognito mode by default.
Picture-in-picture on Android
Chrome for Android uses your phone’s own picture-in-picture feature. As the Chrome team describes it, play a video full screen in Chrome, then go to your Home screen. The video keeps playing in a small window.
- Drag the small window to move it around the screen.
- Drag it off the bottom of the screen to close it.
- Tap the video, then Full screen, to make it big again.
To stop Chrome from doing this, turn picture-in-picture off for Chrome in your phone’s settings. On a Pixel phone, as Google’s Pixel help describes, open the Settings app, find Special app access (it is under the apps settings), then tap Picture-in-picture, tap Chrome and turn off Allow picture-in-picture. Menu names vary between phones and Android versions, so if you can’t find it, search your Settings app for “picture-in-picture”.
If you don’t see the picture-in-picture option
- Start the video first. The Media control button is for media that is playing in a tab.
- Update Chrome, then try again. See how to update Chrome.
- Use the extension. The Google extension above opens picture-in-picture with a keyboard shortcut instead.