How to enable Picture-in-Picture mode in Google Chrome

The Picture-in-Picture mode could be the handiest features that came to the PCs and smartphones, which allows resizing a video window to overlay other apps. So you can browse or do other tasks while watching the videos from online, including Youtube and Facebook. The PiP is already popular on Android smartphones and became globally supportive after the introduction of Android Oreo. Now, you can enable Picture-in-Picture mode in Google Chrome in PC too.

How to enable Picture-in-Picture mode in Google Chrome

Google Chrome comes with a load of natively added features. Most of them are under the beta testing, so may not be stable. These unstable features are hidden in the browser, so you cannot identify them at a glance. So you have to enable several experimental features to get the Picture-in-Picture mode n Chrome browser on your PC.

Google Chrome PiP Mode in PC

The following methods work with normal chrome, but better to go with the “Chrome Canary,” the Beta testing version of the Google Chrome for better results.

enable Picture-in-Picture mode in Google Chrome

  • Now visit the following pages and enable the corresponding features:
    • Type chrome://flags/ in the URL followed by the text with #.
      • #enable-experimental-web-platform-features
      • #enable-surfaces-for-videos
      • #enable-picture-in-picture
  • After enabling each feature, you must have to restart the browser. So do this when you are not working with the Chrome.
  • Now download and extract this Zip file to your device.
  • Come back to Google Chrome and go to chrome://extensions.
  • Toggle on the developer mode from the top right corner.
  • Now Click on “Load Unpacked” and select the “src” folder from extracted directory.

Now, you are all set, and you can use the PiP Mode anytime using the Chrome browser. The videos can also float over other apps in the System.

Use Chrome PiP Mode on Android

Recently released versions of Google’s Android Operating System versions come with the native support for the Picture-in-Picture mode. Android Nougat comes with the PiP mode for some apps, which depended on the developers. Mostly, the Split-screen feature was more popular until the Nougat. Now with Android 8.0 Oreo, everyone or any app can be put into PiP Mode to float over any other app, so is Chrome.

enable Picture-in-Picture mode in Google Chrome

Here is how you can enable the Picture-in-Picture from Google Chrome easily, on Android Oreo running smartphones.

  • Open Google Chrome on your smartphone.
  • Go to Youtube or any video watching platforms and play the video.
  • Now, put the video in full-screen mode by tapping the icon at Web Player frame.
  • While the video is playing, tap the home button of your smartphone. Now, the video will shrink and float at the top of your display.
  • If you want to resume, you can tap on the Headphone icon.
  • Select the floating window and tap to return to full-screen Chrome browser. You can exit the PiP mode by dragging down the window too.

Please note that the above method to enable Picture-in-Picture mode in Google Chrome runs only for Android Oreo and later.

About the author

Akhil G

Skilled technology writer and widely-read journalist. Social media Influencer, FB India Media Partner. Managing multiple news portals and writing for many. Google Hall Of Fame award winner. Youth Icon of the year - Government of Kerala 2018.