How to Mute Tab on Mac

Why muting tabs on Mac is useful

Muting tabs on Mac is handy when you want to listen to something playing on one website, and unwanted audio starts playing in another tab.

For instance, you might be researching destinations for your next vacation while listening to a podcast on YouTube in a background tab. The website you’re browsing has video ads that play automatically, and rather than having to stop each one as you scroll, it’s easier to just mute the tab itself.

A note from our experts: 

 

Another great way to put a stop to pesky auto-playing videos—and all the other ads that fill your favorite websites—is to use MacKeeper’s StopAd on Mac. By eliminating all annoying ads, alerts, and trackers, StopAd gives you a faster, more enjoyable web experience.

 

Try this:

1. Download and install MacKeeper.
2. Select StopAd in the MacKeeper sidebar and then click Open.
3. Click Enable or Install next to your browser of choice.
4. Follow the steps on screen to install the StopAd extension.

How to mute tabs in different browsers on Mac

Almost all modern browsers offer the ability to mute individual tabs—either by clicking the speaker icon shown in the tab, or by right-clicking the tab and selecting the mute option. Here’s how to mute a tab on Mac in all popular browsers:

• Muting tab in Safari on macOS: Simply click the speaker icon in the tab or find the mute option in the Window menu.
• Silencing tab in Firefox on Mac: Right-click a tab to find the mute option, or use the Option + M keyboard shortcut.
• Muting tab in Chrome on Mac: Select the mute option after right-clicking a tab, or select mute in the Tab menu.
• Silence tabs in Opera on Mac: Click the speaker in the tab or right-click the tab and then choose mute.
• Mute tabs in Microsoft Edge on Mac: Right-click the tab and select mute, or click the speaker icon.

1. Muting tab in Safari on macOS

For muting a tab in Safari on macOS, we have three easy methods:

Method 1

1. Select the specific tab you want to mute.
2. Click the speaker icon in the tab to mute it.

Method 2

1. Make the tab you want to mute active.
2. Right-click the speaker icon in the tab, then select Mute Tab.

Method 3

1. Open the tab you want to mute.
2. In the menu bar, select Window > Mute This Tab.

If you’re trying to unmute tabs and getting no sound, it could be that your MacBook sound isn’t working. We recommend playing audio in another app to see if it's a system problem or just a browser issue.

2. Silencing tab in Firefox on Mac

You can also try silencing a single tab in Firefox on Apple Mac in multiple ways, such as:

Method 1

1. Open the tab you want to mute.
2. Click the speaker icon next to the website name to mute it.

Method 2

1. Select the tab you need to mute.
2. Right-click it, then select Mute Tab.

Method 3

1. Choose the tab you want to mute.
2. Press the Control + M keys on your Mac’s keyboard to mute it.

In our expert’s opinion, it’s a shame that we can’t mute tabs in Safari and all browsers using MacBook shortcut keys, but for those who prefer Firefox, you at least have this functionality there.

3. Muting tab in Chrome on Mac

For muting a tab in Google Chrome, we have three easy options:

Method 1

1. Search for and choose the website you want to mute.
2. Right-click its tab, then select Mute Site.

Method 2

1. Open the tab you want to silence.
2. Select Tab > Mute site in the menu bar.

Method 3

1. To mute multiple tabs, select each one while holding Command.
2. Right-click one of the selected tabs, then choose Mute Sites.

Unfortunately, we’ve found that muting tabs in Chrome does little to stop Chrome notifications on MacBook Air, so you’ll need to use other solutions for that.

4. Silence tabs in Opera on Mac

We also have multiple ways to silence tabs in Opera on Mac—try using one of these three methods:

Method 1

1. Select the tab you want to silence.
2. Click the speaker icon in the tab to mute it.

Method 2

1. Open the site you want to silence.
2. Right-click its tab, then choose Mute Tab.

Method 3

1. Open the tab you want to hear—not the one you want to mute.
2. Right-click the tab, then select Mute Other Tabs.

An extra hint from us: 

 

Muting all tabs is a really handy way to silence a bunch of websites in one go, but to silence all sound, you can use the mute function key on most Mac keyboards. If your keyboard volume buttons aren’t working on Mac, you can adjust volume and mute sound in Control Center.

5. Mute tabs in Microsoft Edge on Mac

Microsoft Edge on Mac gives you five ways to mute tabs, including one method that’s handy for muting multiple sites in one go:

Method 1

1. Select the tab you want to mute.
2. Click the speaker button in the tab to disable its sound.

Method 2

1. Open the website you want to silence.
2. Right-click the tab, then select Mute Tab.

Method 3

1. Make the tab you want to silence the active tab.
2. Press Control + M on your keyboard to mute it.

Method 4

1. Choose the tab you want to mute.
2. Select Tab > Mute Tab in the menu bar.

Method 5

1. To silence multiple tabs in one go, select each one while holding the Command key.
2. Right-click one of the chosen tabs, then click Mute Tabs.

Conclusion

No matter which browser you choose to use on Mac, it’s incredibly simple to mute individual tabs while still enjoying audio from only the site you actually want to hear. Follow the tips above to learn all the ways to silence noisy websites in Safari, Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera, and Microsoft Edge.

To easily and effectively put a stop to annoying adverts that automatically play when they load, we recommend MacKeeper’s StopAd feature. It not only makes the web much more enjoyable to use by removing all the ads you don’t want to see, but it also speeds up your browsing experience.