Media Controls for YouTube™ (Chrome Extension)

Improve how your hardware media keys work on YouTube. This lightweight Manifest V3 content script uses the Media Session API to map play/pause, next, and previous hardware keys to consistent actions on youtube.com.

Features

• Play/Pause maps to YouTube’s toggle reliably (simulated Space key).
• Next/Previous support both short tap and long press:
  • Short tap: seek forward/back (YouTube’s default small step).
  • Long press: jump to next/previous video when available.
• Runs only on https://www.youtube.com/* and all frames.
• Zero configuration, zero network calls, no data collection.

How It Works

The content script (content.js) registers navigator.mediaSession action handlers:

• play and pause → dispatches a quick Space keydown/keyup to the player.
• nexttrack
  • Short tap → dispatches ArrowRight (seek forward a few seconds on YouTube).
  • Long press → clicks YouTube’s Next button; falls back to browser history forward.
• previoustrack
  • Short tap → dispatches ArrowLeft (seek backward a few seconds on YouTube).
  • Long press → clicks YouTube’s Previous button (if enabled); falls back to browser back.

Handlers are re-applied on an interval so they keep working even if the page re-initializes the player.

Installation (Unpacked)

1. Clone or download this repository.
2. Open Chrome and go to chrome://extensions.
3. Enable “Developer mode”.
4. Click “Load unpacked” and select the folder containing manifest.json.
5. Visit YouTube and try your hardware media keys.

Usage

• Play/Pause: toggles the current video.
• Next: short tap seeks forward; long press skips to the next video.
• Previous: short tap seeks backward; long press goes to the previous video.

Tip: On YouTube, ArrowRight/ArrowLeft typically seek ~5 seconds.

Permissions

• host_permissions: https://www.youtube.com/*
• content_scripts: injected on YouTube in all frames.

No additional permissions, storage, or network access are used.

Compatibility

• Manifest V3; tested in modern Chrome.
• Requires Chrome’s Media Session support (available by default in current Chrome versions).

Development

• Files: manifest.json, content.js (no build step).
• To package, use Chrome’s “Pack extension…” on chrome://extensions.
• Code uses simple keyboard event dispatching to integrate with YouTube’s built-in shortcuts.

Troubleshooting

• If keys don’t control Chrome, ensure Chrome is the active player and that “Hardware Media Key Handling” in Chrome is enabled (default) so keys reach Chrome.
• Refresh the YouTube tab after loading the extension.
• Some pages without standard YouTube controls may fall back to browser back/forward for prev/next long press.

Known Limitations

• Long-press detection relies on event timing and may vary by OS/keyboard.
• Only applies to YouTube; other sites are intentionally not affected.

License

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0. See LICENSE for details.