How to Watch a Video in Picture in Picture Mode on Mac.
Pip (short for Picture-in-Picture) allows users to pin a small window displaying video that floats on top of other windows. For example, you can watch Office TV while hiding on Reddit. Unfortunately, although macOS Sierra supports picture-in-picture mode, it doesn’t work on all sites. But you can use third party apps to provide PiP in Safari and Chrome. Here’s how.
1. Watch video in picture mode in picture mode in Safari.
First things first, we need to install the PIPifier extension for Safari. This extension gives you the ability to open any HTML 5 video with one click and play it in a floating window. You can install the extension for free from the App Store using this link.
Once you have installed the extension, it will not appear in the Safari browser yet. We need to enable it on the settings page. Open the Safari web browser and open Preferences by clicking CMD + or clicking Preferences from the Safari menu in the menu bar.
On the settings page, you’ll find an icon strip at the top. Click the Extensions button on the right.
Here you will see all installed Safari extensions. Check the box next to the PiPifier button to enable the extension in your browser.
Now, just go back to the Safari browser window and download the video. The extension works with most videos using HTML5. When the video starts playing, click the PIP button to the left of the URL bar. This is it. Your video now plays in a floating window that stays on top of each window.
If you can’t get the video to pop up, pause the playback, press the PIP button and it should pop up right away. Enjoy!
2. Watch the video in picture mode in picture mode in Chrome.
If you are using Chrome and are not going to upgrade to Mac, there is a similar solution for you. If you’re using Chrome 70 or higher, PiP is built into the browser. All you have to do is right-click any video to access it. However, on some video players that already have a context menu (like YouTube), you need to right-click the video and then right-click the video again to see the PiP option.
Unfortunately, Chrome’s PiP mode doesn’t work on most sites like Netflix and Amazon Prime videos. To enable PiP mode on all sites, Google has created a similar extension that allows you to display any video from its web page and move around the screen. Go ahead and install the Chrome extension from this link.
After installing the extension, it will appear in the browser next to the address bar. Just open the website and play any video you like. Click the PIP extension button in the upper right corner next to the address bar to open the window.
That’s it, your video is now floating on the screen above all open windows. Videos stay at the top even when you minimize Chrome, just like the Safari extension.
Last words
These were two quick ways to watch any online video in Picture-in-Picture mode. You can use Safari or Chrome to achieve this functionality and there is no difference between the two extensions. If you want to watch offline videos in PIP mode using QuickTime Player, you can simply select “Floating Top†from the menu bar when playing the video. What do you think of these methods? Let me know in the comments below, or follow me on Twitter.