Using YouTube with a mouse is slower than it needs to be. YouTube has a comprehensive set of keyboard shortcuts that let you control almost every aspect of the player without moving your hand from the keyboard. On a Mac, most of these work identically to Windows, with a couple of Mac-specific additions worth knowing about.

Playback Controls

• Space bar or K – Play or pause the current video.
• M – Mute or unmute audio.
• J – Rewind 10 seconds.
• L – Fast forward 10 seconds.
• Left arrow – Rewind 5 seconds.
• Right arrow – Fast forward 5 seconds.
• Comma (,) – Step back one frame (video must be paused).
• Period (.) – Step forward one frame (video must be paused).
• Home or 0 (zero) – Jump to the start of the video.
• End – Jump to the end of the video.
• 1 through 9 – Jump to 10% through 90% of the video.

Volume Controls

• Up arrow – Increase volume by 5%.
• Down arrow – Decrease volume by 5%.
• M – Toggle mute on and off.

Note: The Mac keyboard’s built-in volume keys also control YouTube audio when the browser is in focus.

Fullscreen and View Controls

• F – Toggle fullscreen mode on and off.
• T – Toggle theatre mode (wider player, page content hidden).
• I – Toggle the mini player (picture-in-picture style, in the bottom right corner).
• Escape – Exit fullscreen or theatre mode.

Caption and Speed Controls

• C – Toggle captions on and off.
• B – Cycle through caption background opacity options.
• W – Cycle through caption window colour options.
• Shift + N – Skip to the next video in a playlist or autoplay queue.
• Shift + P – Go back to the previous video in a playlist.

Mac-Specific Considerations

On a Mac, the Space bar shortcut can conflict with the browser’s native page scroll behaviour. If pressing Space scrolls the page instead of pausing the video, click anywhere on the video player first to make sure it has keyboard focus, then press Space. The K shortcut is more reliable on Mac since it always goes to the video player regardless of page focus.

If you use Full Keyboard Access (macOS accessibility setting), some YouTube shortcuts may conflict with system-level keyboard navigation. Switching Full Keyboard Access off temporarily resolves most conflicts.

Shortcuts in Fullscreen Mode

All keyboard shortcuts work in fullscreen mode on Mac. The J, K, L shortcuts (rewind, play/pause, fast forward) are particularly useful in fullscreen because they give you the most common controls without requiring you to move the mouse to bring up the player controls bar.

Using YouTube in Safari vs Chrome on Mac

All shortcuts listed above work in both Safari and Chrome on Mac. Chrome tends to be slightly more responsive for YouTube keyboard shortcuts because it has deeper integration with YouTube’s web player. If you notice any shortcuts behaving inconsistently in Safari, try Chrome as an alternative.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does the Space bar scroll the page instead of pausing the video?

The video player needs keyboard focus. Click on the video player area (not the controls bar) and then try Space again. Alternatively, use K which does not have the same focus issue.

Is there a shortcut to change playback speed?

YouTube does not have a native keyboard shortcut for changing playback speed. You need to use the gear icon in the player controls. Browser extensions like Video Speed Controller add customisable keyboard shortcuts for this.

Do keyboard shortcuts work on YouTube embedded in other websites?

Yes, but only when the embedded player has keyboard focus. Click on the embedded player first, then use the shortcuts.