How to enable Picture-in-Picture mode in Chrome

Chrome now lets you pop videos outside of the browser using its new Picture-in-Picture mode, and here's how to enable it.

Avatar for Mauro Huculak
@Pureinfotech
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Chrome Picture-in-Picture mode

Google’s Chrome web browser has a new Picture-in-Picture mode that allows you to pop videos you’re watching outside the browser in a small overlay window. However, it’s still an experimental feature, which means that it’s still under development and if you want to give it a try, you must enable it manually.

In this guide, you’ll learn the steps to enable Picture-in-Picture mode to watch videos outside the browser using Google Chrome on Windows 10, macOS, and Linux.

How to enable Chrome’s Picture-in-Picture mode for videos

If you want to watch videos in Picture-in-Picture mode, you’ll need to install Chrome version 69 or later, and then follow these steps:

  1. Open Chrome.

  2. Type the following path in the address bar and press Enter:

    chrome://flags/#enable-picture-in-picture

    Chrome enable Picture-in-Picture setting
    Chrome enable Picture-in-Picture setting

  3. Using the drop-down menu on the right and select Enabled.

  4. Type the following path in the address bar and press Enter:

    chrome://flags/#enable-surfaces-for-videos

    Chrome enable surfaces layer for videos setting
    Chrome enable surfaces layer for videos setting

  5. Using the drop-down menu on the right and select Enabled.

  6. Click the Relaunch now button.

Once you’ve completed the steps, you can try the new feature right-clicking twice on a YouTube video to open the Chrome’s context menu and select Picture-in-Picture.

While in the Picture-in-Picture mode, you can drag the video around the screen, play and pause, resize the video by stretching the edges, and click the X button in the top-right corner to close the video.

About the author
Avatar for Mauro Huculak

Mauro Huculak is a Windows How-To Expert who started Pureinfotech in 2010 as an independent online publication. He has also been a Windows Central contributor for nearly a decade. Mauro has over 15 years of experience writing comprehensive guides and creating professional videos about Windows and software, including Android and Linux. Before becoming a technology writer, he was an IT administrator for seven years. In total, Mauro has over 21 years of combined experience in technology. Throughout his career, he achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft (MSCA), Cisco (CCNP), VMware (VCP), and CompTIA (A+ and Network+), and he has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years. You can follow him on X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn and About.me. Email him at [email protected].