Turn Off the Lights - #1 Dark Mode Browser Extension

Turnoffthelights.com is the official website for Turn Off the Lights, a long‑running free browser extension and web tool designed to improve your online video watching and browsing experience by reducing distractions. At its core, the extension dims the surrounding content on a webpage so that the video player becomes the focal point, much like turning down the lights in a theater to better see the screen.

Originally launched on 15 December 2009 and developed by Belgian creator Stefan Van Damme, the project has expanded over the years to support many modern browsers, including Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera, Microsoft Edge, and Samsung Internet, and remains actively updated.

Beyond simple dimming, Turn Off the Lights offers a rich suite of features such as customizable opacity and background colors, automatic dark mode for all websites, keyboard shortcuts, YouTube‑specific enhancements, configurable night mode, and atmosphere lighting effects that subtly glow around videos.

The service is open source and privacy‑aware, and it’s available not only as a browser extension but also through mobile apps and desktop integrations. Millions of users worldwide choose it to focus on content, reduce eye strain, and streamline media consumption without unnecessary visual noise.

The Turn Off the Lights Chrome extension with more than 2 million users has been featured on the official Google blog, YouTube blog, Mozilla Blog, Microsoft Windows Blog, ZDNet, Buzzfeed, Chip.de, and Apple Store.