The inability mute audio playing tab was one of the main missing features of Edge browser. Microsoft partially addressed this issue by adding a way to mute Edge tabs with the Fall Creators Update for Windows 10.
In Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, there is a way to mute Edge tabs, but you need to open the Volume Mixer to do so. As you know, all third-party web browsers offer an option to mute a tab with a click. This feature is missing in Windows 10 Fall Creators Update.
Mute Edge browser tabs in Windows 10
However, with Windows 10 April 2018 Update (version 1803), Microsoft has added two new ways to mute Edge tabs with ease. Just like Chrome and Firefox, Edge now supports muting a tab playing audio by simply clicking on the volume icon on the tab.
You can unmute the tab by clicking on the sound or volume icon on the tab again.
In addition to that, you can also mute or unmute a tab using the context menu or right-click menu. To mute a tab playing audio, right-click on the tab and then click Mute tab option. Similarly, you can unmute the tab by right-clicking on the tab and then clicking Unmute tab option. Note that the mute or unmute option doesn’t appear if you right-click on a page. You must right-click on a tab to see the option.
As said, this new feature is part of Windows 10 April 2018 Update, and users will have to update their PCs to version 1803 to get this feature.
With this new tab muting feature, Microsoft Edge browser makes it easy to mute annoying video and audio that load automatically when you load some websites.
If you are using Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, please refer to our how to mute Edge tabs in Windows 10 guide.
VanguardLH says
Alas, Microsoft has yet to provide an option for “mute tabs by default”. Clicking on a hyperlink to have audio blare at you in a new tab is highly annoying, and providing a tab icon on which to mute is too late. The tab has already starting blaring at you, and then you have to quickly move the mouse cursor atop the tab icon to shut it up.
There is the edge://settings/content/mediaAutoplay setting, but Limited and Allow do not automatically mute tabs by default. You can go to edge://flags/ to enable the “Show block option in autoplay settings”, restart Edge, but choosing Block does not work. For example, search Youtube, and open a hit in a new tab. The video begins playing, and so does the audio.
For Firefox, I use the “Mute sites by default” add-on. I have not yet found an equivalent add-on for Edge.