Safari Picture In Picture causes freezing of MacOS

Im having the same problem when using external monitors and pip. Ive found that in display settings using external display as main display and not set to mirror my Mac prevents my Mac from freezing.

What I did to solve this was just to use another browser. I found that native MacOS apps causes my MacBook to freeze when I go into Picture in Picture (PiP), including Safari and QuickTime Player. I've been using Brave browser and their PiP function and have encountered no problems whatsoever so far.

MacBook Pro 13-inch, M1, 2020

Sonoma 14.2.1

same problem on two different computers. Everything stops and you have to reboot. This happens when the monitor is connected via USB-C

Hello Jo3ph,

Thanks for choosing the Apple Support Communities. We see you're having trouble with Picture in Picture using your Mac. We have a few steps that may help resolve the issue. Try them below and let us know if you have any questions.

Play web videos in Safari on Mac

"Play a web video with Picture in Picture

1. In the Safari app  on your Mac, navigate to the web video you want to play.
2. Click and hold the Audio button  in the Smart Search field or in a tab.
3. Choose Enter Picture in Picture.
4. You can drag the window to any corner of the screen and the window stays put, even if you switch desktop spaces. You can resize the window to see more or less of what’s behind it. Click the Close button  to close the Picture in Picture window."

If this doesn't work, try testing again with any video extensions or plugins disabled. If issues persist, test in safe mode and see if it works there: Use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support

Safe mode will help rule out third-party apps as the cause and isolate the issue.

We hope this helps.

Cheers!

Jo3ph,

Be sure to see if the same type of issue is occurring in other websites, as that'll see if it's specific to a particular website.

Also try checking to see if there are any extensions installed for Safari, as these can affect functionality. Safari menu > Settings > Extensions. If there are any installed try temporarily disabling or uninstalling them, and then relaunch Safari to try again.

Testing in safe mode can also help rule out some software from causing a conflict: Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support

Cheers.

I'm having the same problem on twitter.com with PIP, not happening to me on youtube.

Same here, this has been happening for over a year on my Macbook Air 13inch 16gb.

In my case they're all external as I'm using a Mac Studio. Really frustrating this bug still exists.. I even triggered it a couple times without using pip just by playing multiple YouTube videos.

I have a similar bug. Ever since I got my M2 Max Mac Studio the PIP video will freeze if I switch spaces or use exposé. It's not that big of a deal and if I click the video it returns to normal.

However, if when the video is frozen I also zoom in using ctrl+scroll the whole GUI freezes and I have to ssh in and kill windowserver. It's easily reproducible. Very annoying.