How-to guide
How to use YouTube keyboard shortcuts
Press K to pause, J and L to jump 10 seconds and F for full screen. Or press ⌘K with TabCmdr on YouTube and type what you want, such as seek or speed.
Quick answer
Control a YouTube video in three steps
- ⌘K
Step 1
Open the palette
On a YouTube video page. Ctrl+K on Windows and Linux.
- seek
Step 2
Type the action
YouTube actions show under Commands.
- ↵
Step 3
Press Enter
TabCmdr does it on the video.
YouTube’s own shortcuts
The YouTube player has single-key shortcuts. Press Shift+? on YouTube to see the full list.
| To do this | Press |
|---|---|
| Pause or play | K |
| Back 10 seconds | J |
| Forward 10 seconds | L |
| Back or forward 5 seconds | ← or →, with the seek bar selected |
| Volume up or down 5% | ↑ or ↓, with the seek bar selected |
| Mute or unmute | M |
| Full screen | F |
| Captions | C |
| Miniplayer | I |
| Next video | Shift+N |
| Faster or slower | > or < |
| Back to the start | 0 |
Source: YouTube’s keyboard shortcuts help page, checked in October 2026.
TabCmdr's way
Run YouTube actions by name with TabCmdr
TabCmdr is a keyboard launcher that lives in your browser. On youtube.com it adds 25 YouTube actions to its search box. Playback actions act on the video itself, so it doesn’t matter what’s focused on the page.
Before you start: add TabCmdr from the Chrome Web Store. It has a 7-day free trial and needs no account.
Step 1: Open the palette on a video
Press ⌘+K on a Mac or Ctrl+K on Windows and Linux, on a YouTube video page.
Step 2: Type the action
Type a word from the action’s name. seek lists the four ways to jump back or forward. YouTube actions sit under Commands, marked Page command.
seek lists the four seek actions.Step 3: Press Enter
The palette closes and the video jumps. speed finds the three speed actions: each press of Increase Playback Speed adds 0.25x, and Normal Speed (1x) resets it.
speed finds Increase Playback Speed, Decrease Playback Speed and Normal Speed (1x).All 25 YouTube actions
| Group | Actions |
|---|---|
| Playback | Play / Pause, Mute / Unmute, Volume Up (+10%), Volume Down (-10%), Seek Back 5 Seconds, Seek Forward 5 Seconds, Seek Back 10 Seconds, Seek Forward 10 Seconds, Go to Beginning |
| Speed | Increase Playback Speed, Decrease Playback Speed, Normal Speed (1x) |
| Player | Toggle Fullscreen, Toggle Theater Mode, Toggle Miniplayer, Toggle Captions, Next Video |
| Video | Like Video, Dislike Video, Subscribe / Unsubscribe |
| Go to | Focus Search Box, Go to YouTube Home, Go to Subscriptions, Go to Watch History, Go to Library |
Player and Video actions click the matching button on the YouTube page for you.
Turn YouTube actions off
Open TabCmdr’s settings, choose Sites and find Site Shortcuts, which is marked Experimental. Untick YouTube to keep its actions out of the palette, or turn off Enable Site Shortcuts to hide the actions for every site.
Try it on your own tabs
Works in Chrome, Edge, Brave, Arc, Vivaldi and Opera.
Install for Chrome