In a move long desired, Chrome has announced that they will stop automatic play of any website media with sound. Google has been discussing this step for some time, and now it has become part of the official roadmap. Version 63, which is due in January, will have this new feature.
Media that doesn't contain sound, or something which the user has indicated some interest will still play automatically. Individuals will have the option to disable sound for entire sites, and this can be made persistent, across separate browsing sessions.
Google has justified this move stating that "unexpected media playback" is one of the most common complaints, and that it uses bandwidth and data in ways that are not intended by the consumer.
Google has also angered advertisers with their intent to build in an ad blocker into the browser. The adblocker will not come soon however. They estimate sometime in the summer of 2018 for that to come into play.
You can read more at VentureBeat.
