Video Speed Controller for Firefox

Video Speed Controller is a Firefox add-on that adds shortcuts to the web browser that you may activate to control the playback speed of HTML5 videos on sites like YouTube and others.

Sometimes, you may want to slow down or speed up a video playing in the browser. Increasing the speed of a video may be useful if you watch a presentation, tutorial or other content that is slow-paced, and decreasing the speed may be useful if you want to look at a scene or video in detail.

Some sites and browsers give you control over the playback speed of videos. YouTube, for example, hides speed options under the preferences icon on video pages.

Video Speed Controller

The Firefox add-on requires access to data for all websites as it provides functionality for HTML5 video content which may be embedded on all sites and not just select sites such as YouTube.

The extension adds the following shortcuts to the browser after successful installation:

• Decrease the video playback speed: S
• Increase the video playback speed: D
• Reset the playback speed: R
• Rewind the video: Z
• Advance the video: X
• Set the playback speed to the preferred value: G
• Show/hide Controller: V

Usage is simple: just hit the shortcut when HTML5 videos play to use the mapped functionality. Tap on D to increase the playback speed or S to slow it down, or on R to reset it.

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Video Speed Controller displays the current level in the video interface whenever it is changed. You can hide the display in the extension settings.

Click on the extension icon in the Firefox toolbar and select Settings to open the list of shortcuts and other options.

You can remap any shortcut used by the extension and change defaults. The following defaults may be changed:

• Change the rewind and advance time in seconds (default 10s).
• Change the speed change step (default 0.10)
• Set a preferred speed (default 1.8)

Check "remember playback speed" to record custom video speeds to use the same speed in the future as well.

The extension supports a blacklist that you may add sites to that don't work properly when the extension is enabled. The blacklist contains four default entries: Instagram, Twitter, Vine and Imgur.

Closing Words

I tested the extension on sites like YouTube and Twitch, and it worked fine on them. It felt kinda strange to decrease or increase the playback speed on live streams on Twitch, and it worked just fine.