It is pretty obvious that when you are watching videos online, you are not doing anything else. Want to save a few hours when going through YouTube videos or binge watching a TV series? Speed up the videos at 1.5x or 2.0x the speed. I will teach you how to.
1. Download the Video Speed Controller Extension
You can use a browser extension called Video Speed Controller to speed up videos on ALL websites, including YouTube, Netflix, and Hulu. This extension is only available on Google Chrome and Firefox. If you are using the Safari browser for Mac, you will need to pay for an app called Accelerate. I will include the download links below.
Video Speed Controller for Google Chrome
Video Speed Controller for Firefox
Pro Tip
If you are using a desktop browser, I strongly recommend Google Chrome. The Chrome browser has a large library of extensions, such as the Video Speed Controller and Adblock Plus to block YouTube ads, that can make your internet life easier.
2. Speeding Up and Slowing Down Videos
After you’ve added the extension to your browser, you can adjust the speed of your video using the control shortcuts. The controls are automatically set to your keyboard strokes “S” for decrease and “D” to increase the video speed.
3. Changing the Keyboard Shortcuts
To change the keyboard shortcuts and settings, simply adjust them in your extensions bar in Google or Firefox on the top left hand side of your browser.
Pro Tip
If you watch 60 minutes of television a day, you can play your videos at twice the speed. The time savings are potentially 30 minutes a day. On a weekly basis, that is 2.5 hours saved, or about 900 hours saved annually – enough to learn a new language!
