Videos autoplay inconsistently when opened in a new tab

[Saoiray]

Description

When opening videos, particularly from YouTube, in a new tab, there is inconsistent behavior. Some videos remain paused in the background, while others start playing immediately. This behavior appears random and lacks adherence to any consistent logic. A consistent and predictable action is desirable, with a preference for tabs to remain paused in the background until manually activated.

Steps to reproduce

1. Open the Brave browser.
2. Navigate to YouTube.
3. Long-press on a video and choose to open it in a new tab.

Actual result

New tab opens in the background, and the video randomly either plays audio/video immediately or remains paused.

Expected result

The new tab should exhibit consistent behavior: either always remaining paused in the background or always starting playback (preference is for it to remain paused).

Reproduces how often

Intermittent issue

Brave version

1.73 (97)

Device/iOS version

• Device: iPhone 13 Pro Max

• iOS Version: 18.2

• Reported by User:

  • Device: iPad Air M2 (Q4 2024)
  • iOS Version: Latest updates
  • Affected devices include iPhone 15, iPhone 13 Pro Max.

Affected browser versions

• latest AppStore
• latest TestFlight
• previous TestFlight

Reproducibility

• with Brave Shields disabled
• in the latest version of mobile Safari

Miscellaneous information

In my testing, the issue appears more frequent in Private mode but still occurs randomly in standard browsing.

Comparison with other browsers:

• Safari: New tab opens on top and starts playing immediately.
• Chrome: New tab opens in the background and does not autoplay.

Originally reported by a user on the Brave Community:
https://community.brave.com/t/youtube-links-opened-in-background-tabs-start-autoplaying-despite-autoplay-being-off/588815

[shevernitskiy]

The video pauses when the YouTube anti-adblock script is triggered. You may not see the popup itself (because it is blocked), but the pause is triggered.

[Saoiray]

The video pauses when the YouTube anti-adblock script is triggered. You may not see the popup itself (because it is blocked), but the pause is triggered.

This is not the issue and unlikely plays a part in this bug report at all. As indicated in the Reproducibility section, this happens even with Shields disabled and private window/mode.

For me, the more common behavior is that videos don't even start playing right away. They stay paused. It's just every once in a while it starts playing the video/music right away even when shouldn't. The person on topic I linked to is saying they have this issue of it playing right away more often.