How to force Chrome to open local video files in-browser instead of "downloading" them?

Question

I was trying to open a locally stored video (.mkv) file in a Chrome tab, in order to present it on Google Meet (it requires you to open media in a Chrome tab to enable presentation audio). But instead of opening the file with its inbuilt media player, Chrome downloads the video in the Downloads folder and opens it in the PC's default video player.

I tried the same method to open the file in another Chrome browser on another PC and it opens the video (.mkv) file in the Chrome browser just fine.

Both PCs have the same Chrome version. [Version 86.0.4240.111 (Official Build) (64-bit) as of 30-10-2020], and as far as I remember I have not tweaked any settings. tl;dr: I want to be able to open videos in Chrome without being redirected to an external app. Please help.

Paramo

Answer 1

Just change the extension of the file by renaming the file(in the same way we rename files). Ex: If your file is xyz.mkv then rename it to xyz.mp4.

Right click on file and select "rename" And replace the extension part with ".mp4"

Rebuild

This doesn't work, as changing the extension will also change the file to which you want to access. This will give you file is not accessible error saying the file is not found at the location. – Khabarovsk

worked for me, I renamed a .mkv file to .mp4 and now it opens in Chrome with click+drag, previously it kept downloading the file instead of playing in Chrome – Poddy

Answer 2

Looks like you have a video player extension (Search in Settings). Delete the video player extension and try again.

Antoniettaantonin