32 votes

What apps/plug-ins/extensions etc do you use to improve Youtube on desktop?

Posted by zptc
Tags: social media, ask.recommendations, youtube, apps, plugins, webextensions

My experience with the extensions below is solely from Firefox.

For livestream chat, I use Hyperchat mostly for the cpu usage reduction.

Youtube-shorts block (Firefox,Chrome) forces shorts to play in the regular video player, avoiding the horrid shorts UI.

33 comments

  1. [5]
    bln
    Link
    Aside from the ubiquitous Ublock Origin, I use: SponsorBlock, to skip sponsored segments. Video Speed Controller, to speed up the video easily. You can set a default speed, and adjust in small...

    Aside from the ubiquitous Ublock Origin, I use:

    • SponsorBlock, to skip sponsored segments.

    • Video Speed Controller, to speed up the video easily. You can set a default speed, and adjust in small steps on-the-fly. It takes a short while to get used it, but now I watch most videos at x2.5-x3 speed.

    31 votes
    1. [3]
      Darrell_Winfield
      Link Parent
      Love sponsorblock. Also echo the ubiquitous unlock. Out of curiosity, why do you watch videos at 2-3x speed? I would do that for research and study videos, but if I'm watching something for fun,...

      Love sponsorblock. Also echo the ubiquitous unlock.

      Out of curiosity, why do you watch videos at 2-3x speed? I would do that for research and study videos, but if I'm watching something for fun, why do you speed it up?

      7 votes
      1. bub
        Link Parent
        For me at least, I enjoy taking less time out of my day to watch a given video, although if I'm honest with myself it probably just leads to my watching twice as many videos and still wasting just...

        For me at least, I enjoy taking less time out of my day to watch a given video, although if I'm honest with myself it probably just leads to my watching twice as many videos and still wasting just as much time.

        Maybe more importantly, I'm able to stay focused a lot better when I'm able to listen to someone speaking as quickly as I read text. I think I often get distracted during normal speech because of how slowly it conveys information.

        Also I remember hearing/reading that some blind people are able to grow accustomed to quite surprising audio velocities, possibly due to their increased reliance/practice/development of auditory processing, which makes sense to me. And I figured "let's test out my neuroplasticity and see how far I can take it." It's just kinda cool.

        10 votes
      2. fidwell
        Link Parent
        For me, it's simply that people talk too slowly. Generally, your brain can process input way faster than people can physically speak (assuming the same language). If I can save myself some time,...

        For me, it's simply that people talk too slowly. Generally, your brain can process input way faster than people can physically speak (assuming the same language). If I can save myself some time, why not? Even "fun" videos benefit from this for me.

        8 votes
    2. bub
      Link Parent
      I also endorse Video Speed Controller. I've been slowly watching my videos faster and faster as time goes on, to which I'm pleased to find I can adapt quite well. And it works on other video...

      I also endorse Video Speed Controller. I've been slowly watching my videos faster and faster as time goes on, to which I'm pleased to find I can adapt quite well. And it works on other video players, too, instead of only working on Youtube.

      I've gotten up to 3x for some especially slow speakers, but I'm currently only at the stage where I'm comfortable with 2.3-2.6 generally. But I remember that it wasn't too long ago that even 2x seemed too fast at times, so I'm happy with my progress so far.

      4 votes
  2. Lowtone94
    Link
    Along with SponsorBlock, and UBlock Origin, I also use Return Youtube Dislike

    Along with SponsorBlock, and UBlock Origin, I also use Return Youtube Dislike

    17 votes
  3. [2]
    fidwell
    Link
    Enhancer for YouTube. Lots of handy features, too many to list. Default play speed, UI tweaks, extra controls, stuff like that. It lost a couple things with the recent UI change but hopefully...

    Enhancer for YouTube. Lots of handy features, too many to list. Default play speed, UI tweaks, extra controls, stuff like that. It lost a couple things with the recent UI change but hopefully they'll fix them soon.

    16 votes
    1. cain
      Link Parent
      Seconding enhancer and adding that the theater/cinema mode toggle makes for fantastic second monitor viewing without making it full screen.

      Seconding enhancer and adding that the theater/cinema mode toggle makes for fantastic second monitor viewing without making it full screen.

      4 votes
  4. [4]
    DingusMaximus
    Link
    Herp Derp for YouTube™ for Chrome or for Firefox is the single best improvement I've ever seen made to YouTube. It replaces every word of every comment with either herp or derp. One little script...

    Herp Derp for YouTube™ for Chrome or for Firefox is the single best improvement I've ever seen made to YouTube. It replaces every word of every comment with either herp or derp. One little script raises the average IQ of a YouTube comment section by a solid 50 points. And if you really insist on punishing yourself and want read whatever inane babble is behind those herp derps, you can click any comment to see the original text.

    12 votes
    1. [3]
      public
      Link Parent
      I use the shutup.css extension which simply appends a display:none to the comments div in CSS. I enjoyed Herp Derp before I discovered Shut Up.

      I use the shutup.css extension which simply appends a display:none to the comments div in CSS. I enjoyed Herp Derp before I discovered Shut Up.

      4 votes
      1. [2]
        DingusMaximus
        Link Parent
        Herp Derp is definitely the more childish way to go about it. I don't really watch much YouTube on PC. And when I do it's typically playing videos I don't necessarily have to watch, and I can just...

        Herp Derp is definitely the more childish way to go about it. I don't really watch much YouTube on PC. And when I do it's typically playing videos I don't necessarily have to watch, and I can just switch to other tabs and listen while I work. Since I rarely scroll down at all, let alone enough to see comments, enough time will pass between the times that I do decide to scroll down that I forget about the extension and I get a good chuckle out of it.

        Just hiding the comments altogether is probably a better option for folks who aren't less mature than their teen children, but I have no idea what that's like.

        2 votes
        1. public
          Link Parent
          My maturity peaked right around high school graduation. You could see a sharp decline about halfway through my first semester of uni.

          Just hiding the comments altogether is probably a better option for folks who aren't less mature than their teen children, but I have no idea what that's like.

          My maturity peaked right around high school graduation. You could see a sharp decline about halfway through my first semester of uni.

          1 vote
  5. [2]
    zoroa
    Link
    Minimal - It changes the design language on a couple websites to promote a "a minimal, less attention grabbing internet experience". Notably on YouTube, it desaturates (red -> gray) a couple parts...
    • Minimal - It changes the design language on a couple websites to promote a "a minimal, less attention grabbing internet experience". Notably on YouTube, it desaturates (red -> gray) a couple parts of the UI (logo, seekbar, etc...), and removes recommended videos.
    • uBlock Origin - No pre-roll ads
    • Sponsorblock - No sponsored segments in videos

    I sandbox the account I use for YouTube using Firefox Multi-Account Containers

    Userscripts

    And I have some custom userscripts that

    • Redirects from https://youtube.com to https://youtube.com/subscriptions if I'm logged in
    • Hides the left sidebar
    8 votes
    1. zptc
      Link Parent
      Minimal is interesting, but it seems like the only way to alter its function is to fork the source and make my own version. Is that correct?

      Minimal is interesting, but it seems like the only way to alter its function is to fork the source and make my own version. Is that correct?

      3 votes
  6. ChthonicSun
    Link
    As someone that uses Youtube daily I use quite a few: uBlock Origin - Self-explanatory. Sponsorblock - Skips in-video ads and sponsor segments, a huge timesaver really. Enhancer for Youtube - Does...

    As someone that uses Youtube daily I use quite a few:

    • uBlock Origin - Self-explanatory.
    • Sponsorblock - Skips in-video ads and sponsor segments, a huge timesaver really.
    • Enhancer for Youtube - Does a little bit of everything, I especially like the expanded player and the custom CSS themes.
    • Youtube Audio Compressor - Normalizes the audio levels, good for those videos where you have multiple sounds going and some are louder than others.
    • Youtube Livestream Theater Mode - This one, aside from theater mode as the name suggests, mostly changes how chat behaves or functions, like having the chat beside the stream like Twitch or over the video feed, remove certain elements from the chat and so on, makes the Youtube streams less miserable.
    • Hyperchat - Replaces the default chat with a better, more lightweight one because the default one is absolutely awful and eats like 15-30% of my CPU usage for some reason. It does conflict with some options from Youtube Livestream Theater Mode, so be careful.
    • BetterTTV - I use this one primarily on Twitch, but it also works on Youtube, it does a bunch of stuff on Twitch that makes the experience more bearable, on Youtube from my knowledge it mostly adds custom emoticons and autocomplete, which is nice.
    • Feedbro - I find the notifications on Youtube to be very unreliable, there was a period where I was receiving literally no notifications of new videos or streams, so I subscribe to the RSS feed of any Youtube channels I want to keep up-to-date. Especially useful for streams, since as soon as a stream wait room comes up it pops up on my feed.
    5 votes
  7. JakoDel
    Link
    None, I replace the whole YT client/site with Invidious. the search has become absolute bogus and shorts are often even worse than tiktok.

    None, I replace the whole YT client/site with Invidious.

    the search has become absolute bogus and shorts are often even worse than tiktok.

    5 votes
  8. [2]
    dredmorbius
    Link
    mpv and yt-dlp. View (or more usually, listen to videos from a terminal. Works great on an Android tablet as well, via Termux.

    mpv and yt-dlp.

    View (or more usually, listen to videos from a terminal.

    Works great on an Android tablet as well, via Termux.

    5 votes
    1. Ampoth
      Link Parent
      I do this as well, I don't watch anything on Youtube, I just download the video with yt-dlp and watch it in Media Player Classic. It's especially nice since SponsorBlock as part of yt-dlp will...

      I do this as well, I don't watch anything on Youtube, I just download the video with yt-dlp and watch it in Media Player Classic. It's especially nice since SponsorBlock as part of yt-dlp will trim out sections of the video that the community has identified as an ad read.

      3 votes
  9. ADwS
    Link
    Outside of uBlock Origin (which I use more for the general internet than just YouTube specifically) I used to use Vanced on my phone until I switched to iPhone. The only other plug-in/extension I...

    Outside of uBlock Origin (which I use more for the general internet than just YouTube specifically) I used to use Vanced on my phone until I switched to iPhone. The only other plug-in/extension I was aware of for youtube was the one that brought back the dislike button counts, but I never really felt the need to install it.

    I am honestly not really a YouTube "power user", so I have never felt like the tools and options available to me were not enough. I might watch 2-3 hours of YouTube a week, and that's including listening to an hour long podcast one or two times.

    The only thing I wish I could improve (via plugins or something else) is the search. I'll search for a topic or review and then get 3 results that are on point, then it starts suggesting completely unrelated videos. No YouTube, I do not want to watch a video review on the new Legend of Zelda, I am currently trying to find a video to help me fix my car.

    At this point I have completely given up on the built-in search and just use Google search for the videos I want. At least those are slightly more on topic.

    4 votes
  10. RadDevon
    Link
    I like FreeTube. It's a desktop app that allows me to watch while preserving my privacy. It can proxy all requests through Invidious, and it allows me to maintain my subscriptions and watchlist...

    I like FreeTube. It's a desktop app that allows me to watch while preserving my privacy. It can proxy all requests through Invidious, and it allows me to maintain my subscriptions and watchlist entirely locally. It integrates SponsorBlock as well. It's not perfect, but it's a dramatic enough improvement in the ways I need it to be to make for a much better experience overall.

    Couple it with the LibRedirect extension for the browser of your choice, and you can have YouTube links open automatically in the app.

    4 votes
  11. a_sharp_soprano_sax
    Link
    Besides what's already been mentioned, last week there was a post in ~comp about DeArrow. It's made by ajayyy, the same guy who makes SponsorBlock. It's still in its beta, but it's goal is to...

    Besides what's already been mentioned, last week there was a post in ~comp about DeArrow. It's made by ajayyy, the same guy who makes SponsorBlock. It's still in its beta, but it's goal is to replace video thumbnails/titles with more accurature/less clickbait-y ones using crowdsourcing. It hasn't done much for me yet as it's new, but I'm very interested in seeing where it goes.

    3 votes
  12. zini
    Link
    Oooh I've got plenty. Enhancer For Youtube along with this script in the custom scripts setting to restore the square corners on thumbnails, I just personally dislike how the rounded ones look so...

    Oooh I've got plenty.

    • Enhancer For Youtube along with this script in the custom scripts setting to restore the square corners on thumbnails, I just personally dislike how the rounded ones look so thats why I use it.

    • Sponsorblock, automatically skips sponsor segments as well as other interruptions like self promotions, interaction reminders and intermissions.

    • Return Youtube Dislike does what it says on the tin.

    • Annotations Restored which is very nice when watching older videos (still don't know why youtube completely axed them instead of just not letting people add them to newer videos)

    • Youtube Ends At is a useful extension for knowing at what time you should stop procrastinating.

    3 votes
  13. Neko
    Link
    I quite dislike the YouTube "experience" on Desktop. So I prefer to use RSS to consume the content. My RSS reader of choice is Newsboat YouTube channels are put in a category of their own and I...

    I quite dislike the YouTube "experience" on Desktop. So I prefer to use RSS to consume the content. My RSS reader of choice is Newsboat
    YouTube channels are put in a category of their own and I can open them directly in mpv (with SponsorBlock) ;)
    Same goes for searching. I've written a bash script to simply interface with YouTube API directly from the terminal.

    3 votes
  14. PatriotSpectre
    (edited )
    Link
    I like Newpipe for Android. The following is from their website. "NewPipe has been created with the purpose of getting the original YouTube experience on your smartphone without annoying ads and...

    I like Newpipe for Android.

    The following is from their website.
    "NewPipe has been created with the purpose of getting the original YouTube experience on your smartphone without annoying ads and questionable permissions."

    Newpipe

    Edit: I just reread the original post and realized that this was for improving YouTube on desktop. 🙄

    2 votes
  15. pdg
    Link
    My goal was to make YouTube not as big of a time waster for myself, so I removed a lot of cruft like any kind of suggestions, auto play or even the home page. Unhook allows me to hide basically...

    My goal was to make YouTube not as big of a time waster for myself, so I removed a lot of cruft like any kind of suggestions, auto play or even the home page.

    • Unhook allows me to hide basically anything on YouTube that I don't want to have, like suggestions.
    • SponsorBlock because I value my time.
    • Video Speed Controller to spend even less time on a video by watching it faster.
    • Clickbait Remover replaces all video thumbnails with a frame from the actual video and can also change capitalization of the title, so no more YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENED screaming at me.
    • YouTube HD (user script) to make videos play in the highest resolution right from the start since recently YouTube has started playing 320p videos for me...
    2 votes
  16. [4]
    0x29A
    Link
    I use a custom Ublock Origin filter to remove shorts entirely from my subscription feed. The UI change partially broke this, in that, there are blank spaces now where shorts videos used to be,...

    I use a custom Ublock Origin filter to remove shorts entirely from my subscription feed. The UI change partially broke this, in that, there are blank spaces now where shorts videos used to be, whereas with the old UI the filter cleanly removed shorts entirely as if they never existed. Maybe there will be filter updates to fix this in the future. I hate Youtube shorts and refuse to even see that they exist on my feed. It's all filler/clutter and I find 99% of shorts to be a waste of my time.

    I also have a custom uBlock Origin filter to remove the entire Youtube comments section. (I use ShutUp for this on other sites, but it's too easy to turn back on for YT and I prefer the extra hurdle)

    I also use Enhancer for Youtube.

    1 vote
    1. [2]
      erithaea
      Link Parent
      Regarding shorts: if you use a scripting addon like Greasemonkey or Tampermonkey, you can use this script. It not only hides shorts but also rearranges the other elements to fill the now-empty...

      Regarding shorts: if you use a scripting addon like Greasemonkey or Tampermonkey, you can use this script. It not only hides shorts but also rearranges the other elements to fill the now-empty space, so there aren't any blanks or too-short grid rows.

      5 votes
      1. 0x29A
        Link Parent
        Thanks! I just might do that instead of screwing with ublock filters

        Thanks! I just might do that instead of screwing with ublock filters

        1 vote
    2. 0x29A
      Link Parent
      Sorry for bumping this, but I did find really nice ublock origin filters that block all shorts from subscription feeds, reclaims the space they took up visually, AND also a way to change how many...

      Sorry for bumping this, but I did find really nice ublock origin filters that block all shorts from subscription feeds, reclaims the space they took up visually, AND also a way to change how many videos appear per row (giving credit to this reddit post even though I'm trying to avoid reddit now...)

      This is great because the new UI broke this for me and finding this fixed it.

      !This line removes all the shorts videos. just copy the entire contents and paste it into your extension (including the comments since they start with an exclamation point)
youtube.com##:xpath(//ytd-rich-item-renderer[descendant::span[contains(@aria-label,"Shorts")]])

!This part removes the "New Row" object. kind of like removing the new paragraph in word editors.
youtube.com##ytd-rich-grid-row, #contents.ytd-rich-grid-row:style(display:contents !important;)

!This part limits the number of videos per row. go ahead and play with the number.
youtube.com##ytd-rich-grid-renderer:style(--ytd-rich-grid-items-per-row: 6 !important;)
  17. pyeri
    Link
    ublock origin - obviously. Earlier, I used greasemonkey on firefox to write my custom user scripts, then started using tampermonkey when I switched to chrome. Then ditched it as I learned to write...

    ublock origin - obviously.

    Earlier, I used greasemonkey on firefox to write my custom user scripts, then started using tampermonkey when I switched to chrome. Then ditched it as I learned to write extensions myself in JS which are more powerful than user scripts. Presently, I use two of these to customize the looks on reddit and ycombinator (highlight new comments, etc.). Plus another one I'm writing to create a simple new tab instead of Chrome's which is irritating.

    1 vote
  18. Ajxxxx
    (edited )
    Link
    Return Youtube Dislikes: Chrome / Firefox It's gonna be hard to go without them in the near future, but I've been a big fan of replacing Youtube comments with Reddit comments: Chrome: Karamel:...

    Return Youtube Dislikes: Chrome / Firefox

    It's gonna be hard to go without them in the near future, but I've been a big fan of replacing Youtube comments with Reddit comments:

    Chrome: Karamel: View Reddit comments on YouTube™
    Firefox: Voat - Reddit Comments on YouTube & Web Pages

    1 vote
  19. k-leviathan
    Link
    I just pay for Youtube Premium and am happy enough with that.

    I just pay for Youtube Premium and am happy enough with that.

    1 vote
  20. Suuncle
    Link
    Can we get a SpongeBob extension that talks to me when I click around and blocks ads for me? Is that too much to ask for?

    Can we get a SpongeBob extension that talks to me when I click around and blocks ads for me? Is that too much to ask for?