Best YouTube keyboard shortcuts for PC and laptop users

If you use YouTube on a computer or laptop, learning a few keyboard shortcuts can make your experience much faster and more convenient. These shortcuts allow you to control videos without touching the mouse.

YouTube is one of the world’s most popular websites with more than 2 billion monthly users. People spend a significant amount of time on the platform every day. While many use it simply to watch videos, YouTube has also become a major source of income for content creators.

Despite its popularity, many users are still unaware of its useful keyboard shortcuts. One of the most helpful shortcuts is pressing J which rewinds a video by 10 seconds while L fast-forwards it by 10 seconds. You can also use the Left Arrow and Right Arrow keys to rewind or fast-forward by 5 seconds.

To play or pause a video, press the Spacebar or the K key. If you want to move through a paused video frame by frame, press the comma (,) key to go backward one frame at a time and the period (.) key to move forward one frame at a time.

You can also jump to different points in a video using the number keys. Pressing 1 takes you to 10% of the video, 2 to 20%, 3 to 30%, 4 to 40%, 5 to 50%, 6 to 60%, 7 to 70%, 8 to 80% and 9 to 90% of the video’s total length. Other useful shortcuts include:

• C – Turn captions on or off.
• F – Enter or exit full-screen mode.
• / (forward slash) – Move the cursor directly to the YouTube search box.
• Up Arrow – Increase the volume by 5%.
• Down Arrow – Decrease the volume by 5%.
• P – Go to the previous video in a playlist.
• N – Skip to the next video in a playlist.
• T – Switch to Theater Mode.
• I – Open the Mini Player, which can be closed by pressing the Esc key.
• M – Mute or unmute the video’s audio.

These keyboard shortcuts can help you navigate YouTube more efficiently making it easier to watch, control and browse videos without relying on a mouse.