The video bar on Youtube is supposed to help users to control the video easily and it only appears when a pointer hovers above it or when the video is paused.
However, for those who demand fullscreen experience might get annoyed by the existence of Youtube video bar. So, is there any way to hide the bar when the video is paused?
Despite there’s no known extension can support this ability, a specialized script can help us to disable Youtube video bar anytime we want!
…and it’s easy to implement!
In this tutorial, I’m using Google Chrome as a reference. You may use different browsers if you want. The script should work fine on most major browsers.
How to hide Youtube video bar
1. Go to a new tab in Chrome (CTRL+T).
2. Right-click on the bookmark bar (below the address bar) and then select Add page…
3. Name the new bookmark, for example, I use “Youtube Full” as the Name. Copy the script below for the URL, make sure you select the Bookmarks bar, then click Save.
javascript:(function(){var goaway=".ytp-chrome-top,.ytp-chrome-bottom{display:none;}";if("\v"=="v"){document.createStyleSheet().cssText=goaway}else{var tag=document.createElement("style");tag.type="text/css";document.getElementsByTagName("head")[0].appendChild(tag);tag[(typeof document.body.style.WebkitAppearance=="string")?"innerText":"innerHTML"]=goaway}})();
4. You should notice a new bookmark appear on the bookmark bar like this.
5. Go to any Youtube video.
6. Click on the bookmark you just made. If you can’t see the bookmark bar, press CTRL+SHIFT+B.
7. Now, the video bar is gone, even when the video is paused.
Of course, it would be very hard to control the video without the presence of video bar. That’s why these keyboard shortcuts are so important to remember.
| Keyboard shortcut | Function |
|---|---|
| F | Fullscreen mode |
| T | Theater/default view |
| I | Mini player |
| Spacebar/K | Pause/play video |
| M | Mute/unmute video |
| Arrow Up | Increase volume |
| Arrow Down | Decrease volume |
| Arrow Left | Go back 5 seconds |
| Arrow Right | Go forward 5 seconds |
| Shift+N | Continue to the next video |
To show the Youtube bar again, you only need to reload the page and everything will back to normal.
If you want to take a screenshot from Youtube videos at fullscreen without the existence of a video bar, check out my previous guide about 3 Easy Ways to Take a Screenshot from Youtube Video at Full Resolution.
