Picture in Picture is a great way to watch videos on your computer while you’re busy working on anything else. It’s a feature that multitaskers would love to take advantage of, especially when they only have a single display to work with.
Fortunately, on a Mac, you don’t necessarily have to install a third-party extension to use Picture in Picture mode as long as you’re using Safari. The feature is built right in, and you can access it in different ways. We’ll cover all of them below.
What Is Picture in Picture Mode in Safari?
Picture in Picture (PiP) mode is a feature that lets you watch videos in a small floating window when you’re browsing some other page in Safari or performing any other task on your Mac. It stays at the forefront of your screen no matter which new app you open on your machine.
You can use Safari’s PiP mode on any website with video content. However, the method you need to follow to enter this mode may vary from site to site because of how differently they work.
Therefore, it’s important to know all the possible ways to enter Picture in Picture so that you always have an alternate route when one option isn’t available for a particular site.
1. How to Use Safari’s Picture in Picture on YouTube
Let’s start with the most popular video platform on the web. YouTube’s built-in player shows a popout icon in the playback menu, but it’s not the Picture in Picture feature that you’re looking for. It’s basically just a mini player that you can use to watch videos while you’re navigating through YouTube.
The moment you leave the site, it disappears.
To enter Safari’s PiP mode on YouTube, start playing a video and then right-click or Control-click on the video twice. We stress the word twice because doing it once will bring up YouTube’s context menu instead of the following options.
Now, select Enter Picture in Picture from Safari’s context menu.
The video will now pop out of Safari and continue playing back in a tiny window at the corner of your screen. You’ll still be able to use YouTube’s playback menu to control the video playback.
2. How to Enter Picture in Picture Mode From the Playback Menu
Some websites, like Dailymotion, will make it easy for you. The PiP option will be available directly from the playback menu. All you need to do is click on it once you start watching a video.
Once you enter Picture in Picture, everything else is similar to the YouTube method. You can control its playback using the site’s player.
3. How to Enter Picture in Picture From the Address Bar
At this point, you know how to enter Picture in Picture from YouTube and other sites that give you the direct option in the playback menu. But, what would you do if you have access to neither of those options for a website you often visit?
Well, you use the Address Bar technique instead. Safari’s address bar houses a mute button that doubles as a PiP button if you use it correctly.
To access it, start playing a video and right-click or Control-click on the mute button to bring up the context menu. Now, choose Enter Picture in Picture and resume playback in the floating window.
Note that this particular audio control will only show up when a video is being actively played on the webpage. This method is helpful while viewing content on the popular video streaming platform Twitch.
4. How to Enter Picture in Picture Mode Using a Safari Extension
Learning three unique ways to enter the PiP mode in Safari can be overwhelming for some people. This is why we’ve added a technique that will work across all sites in the same manner.
On the downside, though, you’ll need to install a third-party Safari extension despite Picture in Picture being a native feature.
Follow these instructions to install and use the extension:
-
Open Safari on your Mac and go to Safari > Safari Extensions from the menu. This will launch the App Store on your Mac.
- Search for PiPifier and install it.
-
Next, you need to enable this extension. Head over to Safari -> Preferences from the menu bar and then switch to the Extensions section. Here, simply check the box for PiPifier Button.
-
Now, you’ll find the extension in the Safari toolbar. Visit the website where you want to watch the video, start playing it, and click on the extension to pop the video out of your browser.
From now on, whether you use YouTube, Twitch, Netflix, or any other platform, entering Picture in Picture in Safari is just a click away.
PiPifier is just one of the many Safari Extensions available on the App Store. You have plenty of alternatives to try if you don’t like this one.
Using the Pop-Out Player in Safari
Unlike entering the PiP mode in Safari, using the popout player is a lot more straightforward. However, you don’t get a lot of flexibility with this pop-out player. For starters, you can only drag it to one of the four corners on your screen and not anywhere you like.
There’s only an option to pause or resume the video. You cannot use it to fast forward, rewind, or even control the volume level.
To increase the size of the floating window, you can simply drag one of its corners. When it comes to exiting the PiP mode, you have two options.
If you click on the X icon, you will close the pop-out player and end the playback. On the other hand, if you click on the Picture-in-Picture icon, you will still exit PiP mode, but the player will reattach to the Safari webpage and resume playback normally.
Multitask Effortlessly With Picture in Picture Mode
Going through your emails in the morning while watching news videos in Picture in Picture mode can be a great way to save time. You don’t have to open a separate Safari window and rely on Split View that takes up valuable screen space for multitasking.
Despite all the positives, the feature could certainly use some improvements. Being able to place the floating window anywhere you want would be a good place to start.
Apart from Safari, the Picture in Picture view is also accessible in stock apps like QuickTime and Apple TV. If you own an iPhone running iOS 14 or later, you can even use PiP mode on your phone.