What are the keyboard shortcuts for videos?

The common set, used by YouTube: Space or K to play and pause, J and L to go back or forward 10 seconds, the left and right arrows for 5 seconds, the up and down arrows for volume, M to mute, F for fullscreen, Shift with > or < to change the speed, and 0 to 9 to jump to 0 to 90 percent of the video.

How do I use YouTube's keyboard shortcuts on other websites?

Install a Chrome extension that adds the same keys to every video, such as the free Video Keys. It works on sites without shortcuts, on sites that block keys and on players embedded from other sites.

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

The page, not the player, has the keyboard focus, so the browser uses Space to scroll. Click the video once, or use Video Keys, which pauses the video in view with Space and still lets Space scroll when no video is in view.

Guides

Keyboard shortcuts for any video: the YouTube keys on every website

Q: How do I use YouTube's keyboard shortcuts on other websites?

Install a Chrome extension that adds the same keys to every video, such as the free Video Keys. It works on sites without shortcuts, on sites that block keys and on players embedded from other sites.

Q: Why does Space scroll the page instead of pausing the video?

The page, not the player, has the keyboard focus, so the browser uses Space to scroll. Click the video once, or use Video Keys, which pauses the video in view with Space and still lets Space scroll when no video is in view.

Updated November 2, 2026

Short answer: The most common video shortcuts are YouTube's: Space or K to pause, J / L for 10 seconds, the arrow keys for 5 seconds and volume, M to mute, F for fullscreen and Shift + > / < for speed. Most other sites support only some of them, or none. Video Keys, a free Chrome extension, gives every video on the web the same keys.

The cheat sheet

Key	What it does
`Space` `K`	Play / pause
`←` `→`	Back / forward 5 seconds
`J` `L`	Back / forward 10 seconds
`↑` `↓`	Volume up / down
`M`	Mute / unmute
`F`	Fullscreen / exit fullscreen
`Shift` + `>` `<`	Speed up / slow down by 0.25x
`0` – `9`	Jump to 0–90% of the video
`Home` `End`	Jump to the start / end

These work on YouTube out of the box. YouTube also has a few keys of its own, such as C for captions and T for theater mode.

Why other sites are different

Each website builds its own player, so each one decides which keys to support. Some use only the arrow keys, some use none, and on many pages Space scrolls the page instead of pausing, because the page has the keyboard focus, not the player. Players embedded from another site, like a video inside a blog post, ignore your keys until you click into them.

Use the same keys on every website

Add Video Keys to Chrome.
Reload any tabs that were already open.
Open a video and use the keys in the cheat sheet. A short hint over the video shows what changed.

Video Keys only takes over these keys while a video is in view, so Space still scrolls a page without one. It leaves your keys alone while you type in a text field or hold Ctrl, ⌘ or Alt. On YouTube, YouTube's extra keys like C keep working, and the shared keys don't fire twice. You can switch it off for any site from its popup.

Where no extension can help

Chrome doesn't let extensions run on its own pages, such as chrome:// pages and the Chrome Web Store. Everywhere else with an HTML5 video, the keys work.

One set of keys for every video

Free for Chrome. Works on sites without shortcuts and sites that block them.

Add to Chrome, it's free