This article describes how to stop sounds and videos from being played in Internet Explorer.

To stop sounds and videos from being played in Internet Explorer, click the Stop button on the toolbar, or press the ESC key. In addition to stopping all sounds and videos that are currently being played, the remaining unloaded portion of the current Web page is not loaded. Because the rest of the Web page is not loaded, any remaining sounds or videos are not played.

Some Web pages include sounds or videos that are played automatically when you access the Web page. If you are using a slow connection to access the Web, the sounds or videos may take a long time to be played, decreasing the performance of Internet Explorer. To stop sounds or videos from being played, click the Stop button or press the ESC key.

To prevent sounds and videos from being played automatically when you access a Web page, follow these steps:

Internet Explorer 5, 5.5

1. In Internet Explorer, click Internet Options on the Tools menu.
2. In the Multimedia area on the Advanced tab, click the Play Sounds and Play Videos check boxes to clear them, and then click OK.
   
   NOTE: If you also want to prevent Internet Explorer from displaying pictures automatically, click the Show Pictures check box to clear it before you click OK.

Internet Explorer 4.0, 4.01

1. In Internet Explorer, click Internet Options on the View menu.
2. In the Multimedia area on the Advanced tab, click the Play Sounds and Play Videos check boxes to clear them, and then click OK.
   
   NOTE: If you also want to prevent Internet Explorer from displaying pictures automatically, click the Show Pictures check box to clear it before you click OK.

Internet Explorer 3.0

1. In Internet Explorer, click Options on the View menu.
2. In the Multimedia area on the General tab, click the Play Sounds and Play Videos check boxes to clear them, and then click OK.
   
   NOTE: If you also want to prevent Internet Explorer from displaying pictures automatically, click the Show Pictures check box to clear it before you click OK.

Internet Explorer 2.0

1. In Internet Explorer, click Options on the View menu.
2. In the Page area on the Appearance tab, click the Play Sounds and Show Animations check boxes to clear them, and then click OK.
   
   NOTE: If you also want to prevent Internet Explorer from displaying pictures automatically, click the Show Pictures check box to clear it before you click OK.

After you use one of the above methods to prevent sounds and videos from being played automatically, you can play an individual video by using the right mouse button to click the icon that represents it, and then clicking Show Picture on the menu that appears.