If you’re missing the fun of watching movies and other entertainment with friends in real time, try a browser extension like Metastream Remote or Watch2gether to host private online watch parties.
Metastream Remote
Install Metastream Remote and host a watch party within minutes. It works with most common video streaming sites like YouTube, Twitch, Vimeo, Dailymotion—even audio sites like SoundCloud. Subscription services such as Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+ work, too, though everyone in your watch party will need their own accounts on those platforms.
Making things even easier is that only the host needs to install the Metastream extension. Once the host creates a watch party the extension produces a shareable link, so guests simply click to a location and presto—everyone’s screen is synced to the host and the group communicates via chat.
Watch parties are private by default, but you can create public events. There’s no cap on the number of guests you can invite, but sync performance may degrade if the party gets into the many dozens of people.
Metastream can also queue media, so if you’re watching short clips or music videos it’s easy to line up your content so the party seamlessly flows from one piece to the next.
Watch2gether
Watch2gether is a popular web-based social streaming platform that doesn’t require a browser extension, but using the Watch2gether extension in concert with the website offers a few additional features:
- Ability to social stream content that’s not directly supported by the Watch2gether website (e.g. the video source doesn’t offer an embeddable version)
- Ability to social stream content that is supported by Watch2gether but the specific video you want to watch is, for whatever reason, restricted
- Easy access to your watch rooms
Watch2Gether
The official Watch2Gether Firefox extension allows you to share content from a supported site (Youtube, Vimeo, ...) directly into a Watch2Gether room. The new W2gSync feature allows you to sync-watch videos from any website on Watch2Gether.
Watch2gether supports a huge array of popular streaming sites—all the ones you’d expect like YouTube, Vimeo, Twitch, etc.—but also some that might surprise like TikTok and Instagram. There’s even a livestream mode if you want to make yourself the star of the show.
The big paid platforms like Netflix, Amazon, and Disney+ may be accessed with Watch2gether, but as with Metastream Remote, all watch party members will need their own respective accounts on those services.
Transform your media experience
Take your watch party to the next level with additional browser extensions…
Enhancer for YouTube
Gobs of features and enhancements to completely alter and improve the way you enjoy YouTube.
While dozens of customization options may seem like an overwhelming number of choices, Enhancer for YouTube actually makes it very simple to navigate its settings and select just your favorite features. You can even choose which of your preferred features will display in the extension’s easy access interface that appears just beneath the video player.
Key features…
- Customize video player size
- Change YouTube’s look with a dark theme
- Volume booster
- Ad blocking (with ability to whitelist channels you OK for ads)
- Take quick screenshots of videos
- Change playback speed
- Set default video quality from low to high def
- Shortcut configuration
Turn Off the Lights
This lightweight extension gives you simple, one-click access to Theater mode for any video site. Just hit Turn Off the Light‘s toolbar button and everything around the video player fades to dark so you can focus solely on your video content.
Turn Off the Lights for Firefox
The entire page will be fading to dark, so you can watch the videos as if you were in the cinema. Works for YouTube and Beyond. Dark mode for all websites. It works for all known video sites such as YouTube, Vimeo, Twitch, Dailymotion, Facebook, etc.
Key features…
- Set default video quality from low to high def
- Widescreen mode
- Subtle visual tweaks like custom colors and opacity setting
- Mouse-wheel controls
Audio Equalizer
Sound quality is a huge part of your video experience, and obviously so if your watch party is more of a listening party with music videos or SoundCloud streams. The Audio Equalizer extension puts powerful audio enhancement features right into your browser.
Adjust balance levels, EQ, and other key audio elements right from the extension’s handy pop-up controls. For music specifically, there’s a drop-down menu that lets you select the genre you’re listening to—rock, reggae, dance, etc.—so your stream is optimized per style. You can even save your own custom EQ settings should you want to dial in the audio to your own ear.
We hope your next watch party is a smashing success! Find more media enhancing extensions on addons.mozilla.org.