How to hide the control bar in Quicktime?

Question

How to hide the control bar in Quicktime?

Hello:

I am running Sequoia 15.5 on a 2023 Mac Studio with an M2Ultra Chip.

Long story short...I am filming a projection that is running a movie on Quicktime as part of a project I am working on. The control bar shows up on the screen and is ruining the entire shot.

Everything I find on this subject is for older versions of the Mac OS. I cannot follow the same instructions now - because in Settings nothing looks the same. Per AI (and others) To hide the control bar in QuickTime Player, go to System Preferences > Accessibility > Keyboard > Options, then check "Fade panel after inactivity" and set your desired time. This will make the controls disappear after a period of inactivity.

Problem is I cannot find anything to check that says Fade panel after inactivity. And besides I want to control it by keyboard shortcuts - I don't want any "fade". But I would try it - if I could find it. This is what I have now:

Does anyone know how to do this or what the work around would be? I read somewhere that it isn't possible and someone said they had to use VLC player. Is that what I have to do to make this problem go away? I'd rather not. Quicktime is fast and easy...I like it so any help is greatly appreciated.

Posted on Oct 18, 2025 7:21 PM

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Answer 1

Oct 19, 2025 11:05 AM in response to Creator_needs_help

So you want the control bar remain invisible no matter what the user does, right?

One workaround is to make the QT Player window smaller and make sure to keep the cursor outside that window -- then the control bar does not appear.

VLC displays control bar at the bottom all the time.

IINA allows you to hide control bar at 0 seconds -- is this what you want? UI > On Screen Controller: Auto hide after [] seconds.

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Answer 2

Urquhart1244

Level 10

146,184 points

Oct 19, 2025 2:32 AM in response to Creator_needs_help

The controller is supposed to fade out when the mouse pointer is not hovering in that area. So please check that.

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Answer 3

Oct 19, 2025 10:33 AM in response to Urquhart1244

Thank you for your response. You are correct and something I not only know from personal experience but is in other posts regarding this problem. But I totally understand it helps to start with the obvious. I am looking for more than that though...

So my real question is: Can I make the control bar disappear with keyboard shortcuts or something similar or at the very least where is this "fade" control that seems to be in other iterations of the Mac OS but I can't seem to find in Sequoia? Thanks again!

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Answer 4

Oct 19, 2025 12:12 PM in response to Matti Haveri

Hi Matti - Yes! That is what I want. Making the QT Player window smaller isn't an option here, but maybe IINA would be. Thank you so much!

I did find out how to do it using the VLC player once it goes into full screen mode. It's a pretty deep dive, and took me quite awhile to find it. The problem though is that it still shows a "play" triangle in the main screen for about 3 seconds and then fades. But at least it remains gone and no other controls show. I'm not sure if it's ok or not - but I will post those directions and let the moderator take care of it if I'm going against any rules. It's not my intent to do so, only to help others who are looking for a workaround.

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Answer 5

Oct 19, 2025 10:59 AM in response to Creator_needs_help

[Edited by Moderator]

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