This article explains how to be able to view YouTube videos in full screen using the Google Chrome browser. In some cases, there may be difficulties ranging from continuing to see part of the browser window or desktop while viewing the video in full screen to turning off YouTube full screen mode. In most cases, simply restarting the browser or computer is enough to solve this type of problem. However, if the problem persists, you can try to fix it by changing some Chrome configuration settings to be able to view all the YouTube videos you want in full screen.
Steps
Method 1 of 5: Quick Fixes
Step 1. Try updating the web page view
In some cases the page of the YouTube video you want to watch does not load correctly from the browser, which may be the cause of the display problems you are having. In this scenario you will simply have to press the function key F5 on the keyboard or click on the "Reload this page" icon to reload the current YouTube page and fix the problem.
Step 2. Try turning on full screen view while Chrome is displayed in windowed mode
If the Chrome window takes up all the available screen, it is possible that a small portion of the desktop is still visible when you activate YouTube's full-screen view mode. To solve this problem, click on the small square icon visible in the upper right corner of the Chrome window (on Windows) or on the small green round icon visible in the upper left corner of the window (on Mac), then try to activate the YouTube full screen view mode.
Step 3. Use Google Chrome's full screen view mode
If a part of the desktop remains visible when watching YouTube videos in full screen, press the function key F11 (on Windows) or the key combination Command + Shift + F (on Mac) to activate Google Chrome full screen view mode. This way the YouTube video tile should be able to fill the entire computer screen.
Step 4. Try restarting Chrome before trying again
In some cases, YouTube viewing issues are caused by an error that occurred while starting Google Chrome. To fix this, close the current Chrome window, then start the program again. At this point, return to the YouTube page for the video you were watching.
Step 5. Restart your computer
If the three solutions mentioned so far have not worked, try restarting your computer. Normally this procedure should be able to fix YouTube display problems within Google Chrome.
In most cases, this fixes all viewing issues that can plague YouTube full screen mode. If the problem still exists, continue reading and try using one of the other methods in the article
Method 2 of 5: Uninstall Themes
Step 1. Start Google Chrome by clicking on the icon
Double-click the Chrome icon with a red, green, yellow, and blue sphere.
Step 2. Click on the ⋮ button
It's located in the upper right corner of the Chrome window. The main program menu will be displayed.
Step 3. Click on the Settings item
It is one of the options listed in the drop-down menu that appeared. Chrome's "Settings" tab will appear.
Step 4. Scroll down the menu to the "Appearance" section
It should be visible in the first part of the "Settings" menu, but you may still need to scroll down the page.
Step 5. Click the Restore Defaults button
It is located to the right of the "Theme" entry visible at the top of the "Appearance" section. The theme currently in use will be deleted from Chrome and the original one will be restored.
If the indicated button is not visible, it means that Chrome is already using the original theme
Step 6. Try using YouTube full screen view mode
Visit the page of the YouTube video you want to watch and click on the "Full Screen" icon located in the lower right corner of the video box. If the cause of the problem was one of the themes installed in Chrome, then full screen mode should work without any problems at this point.
Method 3 of 5: Disable Extensions
Step 1. Start Google Chrome by clicking on the icon
Double-click the Chrome icon with a red, green, yellow, and blue sphere.
Step 2. Understand when to disable an extension
If you have noticed that YouTube full screen mode is causing problems immediately after installing a particular Chrome extension, it is very likely that the latter is causing the problem. Try disabling it (be careful, don't uninstall it completely) to see if the problem goes away.
New Chrome updates can cause older extensions to malfunction, which could trigger unexpected problems and errors
Step 3. Click on the ⋮ button
It's located in the upper right corner of the Chrome window. The main program menu will be displayed.
Step 4. Select the item Other tools
It is one of the options listed in the drop-down menu that appeared. A small submenu will appear next to the first one.
Step 5. Click on the Extensions option
It is one of the items listed in the appeared submenu. The Chrome "Extensions" tab will appear.
Step 6. Click on the blue slider
visible in the box of the extension you want to disable.
It will turn white to indicate that the corresponding extension is no longer active.
Repeat this step for any extensions you want to disable before continuing
Step 7. Try using YouTube full screen view mode
After disabling the potentially problematic extensions (or all extensions in Chrome), visit the page of the YouTube video you want to watch again and click on the "Full Screen" icon located in the lower right corner of the video pane. If the cause of the problem was one of the extensions present in Chrome, then full screen mode should work without any problems at this point.
Method 4 of 5: Disable Hardware Acceleration
Step 1. Start Google Chrome by clicking on the icon
Double-click the Chrome icon with a red, green, yellow, and blue sphere.
Step 2. Click on the ⋮ button
It's located in the upper right corner of the Chrome window. The main program menu will be displayed.
Step 3. Click on the Settings item
It is one of the options listed in the drop-down menu that appeared. Chrome's "Settings" tab will appear.
Step 4. Scroll down the page and click on the Advanced tab
It is visible in the left panel of the page or at the bottom of the Chrome settings list. Advanced settings will be displayed.
Step 5. Scroll through the newly appeared section to "System"
It is located at the bottom of the page.
Step 6. Click on the blue "Use hardware acceleration when available" slider
It will turn white to indicate that the use of hardware acceleration is currently disabled.
Step 7. Try using YouTube full screen view mode
Visit the page of the YouTube video you want to watch again and click on the "Full Screen" icon located in the lower right corner of the video box. At this point the full screen mode should work without any problems.
Method 5 of 5: Update or Reset Chrome
Step 1. Start Google Chrome by clicking on the icon
Double-click the Chrome icon with a red, green, yellow, and blue sphere.
Step 2. Click on the ⋮ button
It's located in the upper right corner of the Chrome window. The main program menu will be displayed.
Step 3. Select the Help item
It's listed at the bottom of Chrome's main menu. A small submenu will appear next to the first one.
Step 4. Click on the About Google Chrome option
It is one of the items listed in the appeared submenu.
Step 5. Wait for the Chrome update to download and install if necessary
If a new Chrome update is available, click the button Update Google Chrome and wait for the installation procedure to finish.
If Google Chrome is up to date, skip this and the next step
Step 6. Click the Restart button when prompted
At the end of the installation of the new update, the indicated button will appear on the screen. Click on the latter to automatically restart Chrome.
Step 7. Try using YouTube full screen view mode
Visit the page of the YouTube video you want to watch again and click on the "Full Screen" icon located in the lower right corner of the video box. At this point the full screen mode should work without any problems.
If the problem persists, try using one of the solutions proposed in these last steps of the article
Step 8. Reset Chrome to factory settings
This extreme solution could solve the problems that plague YouTube video full screen viewing. However, remember that any customizations you have made to Google Chrome over time will be lost. Follow these instructions:
- Click on the button ⋮ located in the upper right corner of the window;
- Click on the option Settings;
- Scroll down the page and click on the link Advanced;
- Scroll down the new menu appeared and click on the item Restore the original default settings;
- Click on the blue button Reset, when required.
Step 9. Uninstall Google Chrome and reinstall it
This solution is useful for forcing Google Chrome to update to a new version, in case you noticed that a certain update was not installed.
