While many have made viewing videos on YouTube a norm, let's be frank: most watch in bits and bobs; hardly anyone would surf non-stop from start to finish.
If the title already hints at an exciting part, you're probably tempted to skip through the rest to reach the best bits. But using your mouse for everything, like adjusting the volume or finding fullscreen, becomes an inconvenience. But luck would have it that YouTube has keyboard shortcuts that make surfing much smoother and faster.
Why Use YouTube Keyboard Shortcuts?
YouTube hotkeys save you time and effort. Be it tutorials, music videos, or vlogs, viewing becomes more efficient when you skip, rewind, or change settings without relying on your mouse.
Let's break down the most useful shortcuts that will help you become a pro at YouTube.
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General YouTube Shortcut Keys
These general shortcuts make it easy to manage your video experience, from going fullscreen to the volume that keeps the audio in sync.
- Fullscreen mode: Press f to quickly take you out of and into a normal view.
- Theater mode: Press t to take the video into theater mode, which maximizes the video without it going into full view.
- Mini player mode: Press i to scale the video into a small player in the corner so you can continue browsing while watching a video.
- Exit mini player or dialog box: Press ESC in order to close up any pop-ups or to exit mini player mode.
- Mute/unmute video: Press m to turn the sound on or off.
YouTube Playback Controls
The playback can be controlled using a few quick keystrokes. To improve your viewing pleasure, here are some important commands you ought to know how to use.
- Start/stop video playback: Press K or the space bar to play or pause the video.
- Fast forward by 10 seconds: use the keyboard shortcut l to jump forward 10 seconds, or the right arrow key to skip five.
- Rewind by 10 seconds: Use the keyboard shortcut j to rewind by 10 seconds, or the left arrow to rewind by five.
- Next video: Use Shift + n to skip forward to the next video in a playlist or YouTube's recommended video.
- Previously viewed video: Press pause and Shift + p to jump back to the previously viewed video in your list.
More Advanced Playback Hotkeys
Want a little bit more functionality out of your video viewing? These shortcuts will let you control playback a frame at a time or change playback speed.
- Step forward one frame: Pause the video and then advance to the next frame.
- Step back a frame: Pause the video and then, go back one frame.
- Fast forwarding: Use Shift +. to proceed fast
- Slow playback: Use Shift +, the video can be played backward and in slow motion as well
Skipping Parts of a Video
Instead of dragging the progress bar, these shortcuts let you skip to exact portions of the video.
- Jump to specific points: Press any number key from 1 to 9 to jump to specific increments of the video. For example, if you press 3 it sends you to 30% in the video.
- Start from the beginning: Tap 0 to rewind from the start.
- Skipping chapters: Utilize Option + → which will allow you to head to the next chapter. To revert, press Option + ←.
Volume and Subtitles
These keyboard commands make volume adjustments and subtitle controls very easy to use.
- Volume Up: Hit the up arrow key to increase the volume by 5%
- Volume Down: Press the down arrow to lower the volume by 5%
- Captions/ subtitles toggle: Use c to toggle ON/OFF the captions/subtitles
- Subtitle settings: Alter your text brightness by using o, background transparency with w, increase font size +, decrease font size -.
YouTube Spherical Video Controls (360° VR)
In case you are checking out YouTube's 360° VR videos, the following hotkeys will help you navigate through the scene easily.
- pan up: w
- pan down: s
- pan left: a
- pan right: d
- zoom in: + or ]
- zoom out: - or [
Streamline Your YouTube Experience
Very few people know these super handy shortcuts to YouTube navigation. Now you can browse videos much quicker and more efficiently.
When it comes to binge-watching your favorite channel or quickly skimming through tutorials, keyboard controls will make the experience go much smoother. Try them out and you'll wonder how you ever watched YouTube without these.
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