YouTube keyboard shortcuts
Your computer and programs running on your computer are not the only places keyboard shortcuts can be used. Many online services like YouTube also offer keyboard shortcuts. Below is a listing of keys you can use on your keyboard to control YouTube videos.
Note
The YouTube video and window must be active. If these keys are not working, click the video to make sure it is selected. Switching between windows, changing tabs in your browser, or performing other actions like making a comment unselects the video.
Play and pause a video
Press the
spacebar or the
K key on your keyboard to play and pause a video.
Tip
Holding down either of these keys also plays the video in slow motion.
Jump to start of a video
Pressing the
0 (zero) key on your keyboard will jump to the beginning of a video. The
Home key also works for jumping to the start of a video.
Jump to the end of a video or go to the next video
Pressing the End key on your keyboard goes to the end of the video. If you are watching a playlist, it goes to the next video in the playlist.
Skip or jump in the video
Fast forward or rewind
If you want to fast forward or rewind in increments of five seconds, press the left or right arrow keys. If you need to jump more than five seconds, press the J key to rewind ten seconds or press the L key to fast forward 10 seconds.
Skip to video sections
Pressing the number keys from 1 to 9 seeks (jumps) to that percentage of the video. In other words, 1 jumps to 10%, 2 jumps to 20%, 3 jumps to 30%, etc.
Change video playback speed
To decrease the playback speed of a video, hold down the Shift and press the , (comma) key.
To increase the playback speed of a video, hold down the Shift and press the . (period) key.
Switch the video to full-screen or theater mode
Pressing the F key switches between full-screen and normal mode.
Tip
Pressing Esc also exits full-screen mode.
Pressing the T key switches between theater mode and normal mode.
Turn on or off closed captions and subtitles
If a video has closed captions or subtitles, you can turn them on by pressing the C key. Pressing C a second time turns them off again.
Turn up and down the volume
When in full-screen mode, pressing the up or down arrow keys turns up and down the volume of the video. If you are turning down the volume and continue to hold the down arrow key, it will eventually mute the volume.
Tip
Pressing M on the keyboard also mutes and unmutes the volume.