5 ms·

If you are fluent with the terminal, you don't need to suffer from the YT Web UI. Install mpv and yt-dlp. Play videos like this: mpv [--no-video] "https://ww

If you are fluent with the terminal, you don't need to suffer from the YT Web UI. Install mpv and yt-dlp. Play videos like this: mpv [--no-video] "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9zVjEZ7W8Q" Option in brackets is optional.

sammy2255 3y ago
I think you’re missing the point. How can I browse Youtube in mpv?
- imiric 3y ago
  Use Invidious, Piped or any other frontend that doesn't track and manipulate you.
  - littlecranky67 3y ago
    Adding https://youtube-lite.js.org/#/ https://youtube-lite.js.org/#/ to the list.
- blueflow 3y ago
  What do you mean by "browsing" Youtube? Clicking new links for the purpose of entertainment? My post was only about playing videos.
  - sofixa 3y ago
    Well, how do you get to the videos? How do you discover their links to pipe to mpv/yt-dl? One option is RSS (YouTube still supports it) subscribing to channels. Do you know of others?
    - blueflow 3y ago
      I don't, i use Youtube for listening to music or livestreams that i already know the title of.
  - Bud 3y ago
    [dead]
- rozenglass 3y ago
  In addition to Piped, and Invidious, mentioned by sibling comments, which allow you to subscribe, search, and provide recommendations, you can use a complete CLI workflow with something like ytfzf[0], or, you can use the search commands on yt-dlp[1], which are also accessibly through mpv using the ytdl:// prefix. Getting familiar with such tools not only replaces the terrible UXes you have to be subjected to, but also gives you the power and freedom to be creative with how you use Youtube and other online streaming sites. I wrote various tiny scripts to replace all my needs for Youtube search, using any highlighted text, with a shortcut, Youtube Music, with a synced plain text file of song titles and a shuffle-on-read script, and more curiously, a script to help me slowly go through all thousands of my partner's favorite songs, and then, using shortcuts, add them to my own favorites, decide on them later, add them to the "what the heck do you listen to" friendly banter list, or the "my ears bleeding" list, etc. Much better UX then anything the slow web UIs can offer, and with minimum hacking. [0]: https://ytfzf.github.io/ https://ytfzf.github.io/ [1]: https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp
imiric 3y ago
This is the way. I really don't understand why any technically proficient user would willingly use any of the official YouTube frontends. You get bombarded with ads, you're constantly tracked and experimented on, and your behavior is used to improve their algorithms in order to keep you on the site for as long as possible. It's a hostile user experience, just like most of the mainstream web. Whenever possible, I suggest using Invidious, Piped, Newpipe, yt-dlp, and anything but the official frontends. I try to compensate the creators I follow via other means if they have an alternative income source, but I refuse to be forced to participate in an exploitative business model that is responsible for the awful state of the modern web.
- dewey 3y ago
  > I really don't understand why any technically proficient user would willingly use any of the official YouTube frontends. - Because I don't see ads with YouTube Premium - Because I add things to my playlists - Because I more often than not find interesting things to watch there - Because I like using it on my phone or TV There's a lot of reasons why someone would prefer the official apps over some third party app that might break every few months.
  - beej71 3y ago
    > - Because I don't see ads with YouTube Premium I was in that boat. But after a while I realized I could no longer in good conscience give Google any more money when they were pushing so many initiatives that went against my interests.
    - 93po 3y ago
      I used a VPN and pay $2 a month for it, which is an acceptable trade off for using it on my phone and spending my life worrying about things that impact me more
- madeofpalk 3y ago
  Because I don't want to fuck about working against the platform, opting myself into something that'll break at any moment. I would much rather put up with Youtube than be frustrated when my 'alternate frontend' one day breaks and i need to figure out a workaround.
MrNeon 3y ago
One feature it lacks is seek bar previews. There are thumbnail scripts but they don't use the available youtube thumbnails.
- ftk_ 3y ago
  I implemented downloading of youtube thumbnails for one of these scripts. https://github.com/marzzzello/mpv_thumbnail_script https://github.com/marzzzello/mpv_thumbnail_script
noname120 3y ago
Or use any of the many alternative YouTube frontends: https://github.com/mendel5/alternative-front-ends#youtube https://github.com/mendel5/alternative-front-ends#youtube
- Osiris 3y ago
  Are there any alternatives for iOS?
beej71 3y ago
Thanks for this pointer--I hadn't heard of mpv, but it works amazingly smoothly.

sammy2255 3y ago

I think you’re missing the point. How can I browse Youtube in mpv?

imiric 3y ago
Use Invidious, Piped or any other frontend that doesn't track and manipulate you.
- littlecranky67 3y ago
  Adding https://youtube-lite.js.org/#/ https://youtube-lite.js.org/#/ to the list.
blueflow 3y ago
What do you mean by "browsing" Youtube? Clicking new links for the purpose of entertainment? My post was only about playing videos.
- sofixa 3y ago
  Well, how do you get to the videos? How do you discover their links to pipe to mpv/yt-dl? One option is RSS (YouTube still supports it) subscribing to channels. Do you know of others?
  - blueflow 3y ago
    I don't, i use Youtube for listening to music or livestreams that i already know the title of.
- Bud 3y ago
  [dead]
rozenglass 3y ago
In addition to Piped, and Invidious, mentioned by sibling comments, which allow you to subscribe, search, and provide recommendations, you can use a complete CLI workflow with something like ytfzf[0], or, you can use the search commands on yt-dlp[1], which are also accessibly through mpv using the ytdl:// prefix. Getting familiar with such tools not only replaces the terrible UXes you have to be subjected to, but also gives you the power and freedom to be creative with how you use Youtube and other online streaming sites. I wrote various tiny scripts to replace all my needs for Youtube search, using any highlighted text, with a shortcut, Youtube Music, with a synced plain text file of song titles and a shuffle-on-read script, and more curiously, a script to help me slowly go through all thousands of my partner's favorite songs, and then, using shortcuts, add them to my own favorites, decide on them later, add them to the "what the heck do you listen to" friendly banter list, or the "my ears bleeding" list, etc. Much better UX then anything the slow web UIs can offer, and with minimum hacking. [0]: https://ytfzf.github.io/ https://ytfzf.github.io/ [1]: https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp

imiric 3y ago

This is the way. I really don't understand why any technically proficient user would willingly use any of the official YouTube frontends. You get bombarded with ads, you're constantly tracked and experimented on, and your behavior is used to improve their algorithms in order to keep you on the site for as long as possible. It's a hostile user experience, just like most of the mainstream web. Whenever possible, I suggest using Invidious, Piped, Newpipe, yt-dlp, and anything but the official frontends. I try to compensate the creators I follow via other means if they have an alternative income source, but I refuse to be forced to participate in an exploitative business model that is responsible for the awful state of the modern web.

dewey 3y ago
> I really don't understand why any technically proficient user would willingly use any of the official YouTube frontends. - Because I don't see ads with YouTube Premium - Because I add things to my playlists - Because I more often than not find interesting things to watch there - Because I like using it on my phone or TV There's a lot of reasons why someone would prefer the official apps over some third party app that might break every few months.
- beej71 3y ago
  > - Because I don't see ads with YouTube Premium I was in that boat. But after a while I realized I could no longer in good conscience give Google any more money when they were pushing so many initiatives that went against my interests.
  - 93po 3y ago
    I used a VPN and pay $2 a month for it, which is an acceptable trade off for using it on my phone and spending my life worrying about things that impact me more
madeofpalk 3y ago
Because I don't want to fuck about working against the platform, opting myself into something that'll break at any moment. I would much rather put up with Youtube than be frustrated when my 'alternate frontend' one day breaks and i need to figure out a workaround.

MrNeon 3y ago

One feature it lacks is seek bar previews. There are thumbnail scripts but they don't use the available youtube thumbnails.

ftk_ 3y ago
I implemented downloading of youtube thumbnails for one of these scripts. https://github.com/marzzzello/mpv_thumbnail_script https://github.com/marzzzello/mpv_thumbnail_script

noname120 3y ago

Or use any of the many alternative YouTube frontends: https://github.com/mendel5/alternative-front-ends#youtube https://github.com/mendel5/alternative-front-ends#youtube

Osiris 3y ago
Are there any alternatives for iOS?

beej71 3y ago

Thanks for this pointer--I hadn't heard of mpv, but it works amazingly smoothly.