4 ms·

As a general PSA, youtube channels have an RSS feed to alert you when a favourite creator releases a new video. The form is https://www.youtube.com/feeds/vide

As a general PSA, youtube channels have an RSS feed to alert you when a favourite creator releases a new video. The form is https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=UC2wdo5vU7bPBNzyC2nnwmNQ https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=UC2wdo5v... where channel_id is the channel hash code which is buried in the source for the "nicely named" channel: https://www.youtube.com/@CuttingEdgeEngineering https://www.youtube.com/@CuttingEdgeEngineering and can be found without source diving via (say) FeedBro (RSS browser extension) "Find Feeds in Current Tab" function. https://nodetics.com/feedbro/ https://nodetics.com/feedbro/

entuno 2y ago
It also provides feeds for individual playlists, where `playlist_id` is the `list` URL parameter when you view the full playlist. https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?playlist_id= https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?playlist_id= It's a really nice way to be able to follow creators/playlists without needing to register an account. I'm surprised that YouTube still allow it, but I hope it stays.
- latexr 2y ago
  Unfortunately those have a major flaw: they always show the top 15 items in a playlist. This is a problem because many channels have playlists where they put older episodes at the top and add new ones to the bottom. This makes the playlist RSS useless, because it will always show the same 15 videos.
donatj 2y ago
That's good to know. The number of times I have subscribed to someone on YouTube only to not see anything from them in years, and then find tens of their videos YouTube never offered is just insane. So many times I can't find anything to watch on YouTube and it just isn't showing me any of my subscriptions, it's ridiculous.
- oneeyedpigeon 2y ago
  The opposite problem is also bad: subscribe to a channel, then get frequent notifications of years-old videos.
- almostnormal 2y ago
  By "subscription" do you only mean subscription? Don't notifications need to be enabled in addition (bell button)? I'm using the RSS feeds, so I'm not sure...
- soulofmischief 2y ago
  The first three menu items in the navbar of the authenticated YouTube homepage are 'Home', 'Shorts', and 'Subscriptions'. 'Subscriptions' shows exactly what's on the tin, a timeline of videos from your subscribed channels.
  - 0xEF 2y ago
    A lot of people might not realize this exists because of the way apps for smart tv's and game systems present the content and menus. I'm not sure if that's intentional or just misguided design, but the only reason I knew to see it out on my PS4's YouTube app is because I'd seen it on desktop.
  - renegat0x0 2y ago
    I use RSS for many sources, from YouTube also. I can open yt from there. I do not understand why people keeps suggesting subscription view, as it is a worse experience for me, than central RSS management
    - lolinder 2y ago
      Because it's a heck of a lot better than what some people such as the grandparent are doing, which is ignoring the existence of the Subscriptions view entirely and relying on the home screen to be useful. Using the Subscriptions view is as simple as changing your bookmark. Setting up RSS is a lot more complicated for someone who isn't already using one. If you're already on RSS, no one is suggesting you use Subscriptions instead.
WithinReason 2y ago
I highly recommend Feedbro as an RSS reader.
elpocko 2y ago
There is a "Copy channel ID" link on each channel's page, but it's well hidden. Click "...more" in the channel description, then click "Share channel" to open a popup menu that has the "Copy channel ID" link. It does what it says.
EvanAnderson 2y ago
I worry about YouTube RSS feeds getting popular and Google killing them. Every time I see them discussed publicly I have this "Ssshh! Keep it on the down low!" reaction. I browse YouTube anonymously, have an ad blocker setup that pretty much eliminates all ads, and track my "subscriptions" with RSS. It's highly usable. I use a fork of tt-rss and actually embed the YouTube videos in the reader pane so I never see any of YouTube's algorithmic recommendation schlock (beyond recommendations at the end of videos, which I ignore). Browsing YouTube, the site, is a jarring nightmare. I am considering having my podcatcher use a YouTube downloader to just pull down all the videos in the feeds I watch. I believe Google is throttling yt-dlp to realtime speeds, but I figure if my podcatcher is doing it behind the scenes that shouldn't matter. I maintain curated collections of podcasts I like (in case they ever disappear), and since I just added 40TB if storage to my home system I figure it's time to do that with YouTube too.
- badmonkey101 2y ago
  Ssshh! Keep it on the down low!
- pentagrama 2y ago
  Reading your comment this intro started sounding on my mind https://youtu.be/hnlIiDBFlEA https://youtu.be/hnlIiDBFlEA
- ibaikov 2y ago
  This! I am very sad x/twitter stopped offering RSS and the api price is ridiculous
  - account42 2y ago
    Somehow there are still a couple of Nitter instances that keep working despite the API shenanigans: https://status.d420.de/ https://status.d420.de/ I use that for my ex-twitter RSS feeds.
- jhot 2y ago
  I run pinchflat [0] to automate yt-dlp and file management behind the scenes. Also can integrate with sponsorblock to remove in-video ads. 0 - https://github.com/kieraneglin/pinchflat https://github.com/kieraneglin/pinchflat
trollied 2y ago
Reddit also has feeds that they don't publicise. eg: https://www.reddit.com/r/space/.rss https://www.reddit.com/r/space/.rss Adding /.rss on to the end of lots of URLs works all over the place on the site.
latexr 2y ago
Any half-decent RSS reader will detect the right feed if you give it the channel URL.
hexagonwin 2y ago
Somewhat related, but does anyone know how one can only get RSS for live videos?
- User123698745 2y ago
  Yes, by using Youtube's special playlist id prefixes and the "playlist_id" query parameter instead "channel_id". Example: For channel id "UCXuqSBlHAE6Xw-yeJA0Tunw" replace the first two letters "UC" (channel ids always start with "UC") with "UULV". The feed url then looks like this: https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?playlist_id=UULVXuqSBlHAE6Xw-yeJA0Tunw https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?playlist_id=UULVXuq... For more special playlist id prefixes see this StackOverflow answer by "coco0419": https://stackoverflow.com/a/76602819 https://stackoverflow.com/a/76602819
lsaferite 2y ago
I just want to contribute by saying that CEE is awesome content and I look forward to every video they post. Happy to randomly see them on HN.
crtasm 2y ago
Is there a way to get a feed for Videos only? This feed includes Shorts.
- User123698745 2y ago
  Yes, by using Youtube's special playlist id prefixes and the "playlist_id" query parameter instead "channel_id". Example: For channel id "UCXuqSBlHAE6Xw-yeJA0Tunw" replace the first two letters "UC" (channel ids always start with "UC") with "UULF". The feed url then looks like this: https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?playlist_id=UULFXuqSBlHAE6Xw-yeJA0Tunw https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?playlist_id=UULFXuq... It will only contain Videos, no Shorts, but also no Live Streams (in case you want (only) Live Streams use "UULV"). For more special playlist id prefixes see this StackOverflow answer by "coco0419": https://stackoverflow.com/a/76602819 https://stackoverflow.com/a/76602819
  - crtasm 2y ago
    Wonderful, thankyou!

entuno 2y ago

It also provides feeds for individual playlists, where `playlist_id` is the `list` URL parameter when you view the full playlist. https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?playlist_id= https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?playlist_id= It's a really nice way to be able to follow creators/playlists without needing to register an account. I'm surprised that YouTube still allow it, but I hope it stays.

latexr 2y ago
Unfortunately those have a major flaw: they always show the top 15 items in a playlist. This is a problem because many channels have playlists where they put older episodes at the top and add new ones to the bottom. This makes the playlist RSS useless, because it will always show the same 15 videos.

donatj 2y ago

That's good to know. The number of times I have subscribed to someone on YouTube only to not see anything from them in years, and then find tens of their videos YouTube never offered is just insane. So many times I can't find anything to watch on YouTube and it just isn't showing me any of my subscriptions, it's ridiculous.

oneeyedpigeon 2y ago
The opposite problem is also bad: subscribe to a channel, then get frequent notifications of years-old videos.
almostnormal 2y ago
By "subscription" do you only mean subscription? Don't notifications need to be enabled in addition (bell button)? I'm using the RSS feeds, so I'm not sure...
soulofmischief 2y ago
The first three menu items in the navbar of the authenticated YouTube homepage are 'Home', 'Shorts', and 'Subscriptions'. 'Subscriptions' shows exactly what's on the tin, a timeline of videos from your subscribed channels.
- 0xEF 2y ago
  A lot of people might not realize this exists because of the way apps for smart tv's and game systems present the content and menus. I'm not sure if that's intentional or just misguided design, but the only reason I knew to see it out on my PS4's YouTube app is because I'd seen it on desktop.
- renegat0x0 2y ago
  I use RSS for many sources, from YouTube also. I can open yt from there. I do not understand why people keeps suggesting subscription view, as it is a worse experience for me, than central RSS management
  - lolinder 2y ago
    Because it's a heck of a lot better than what some people such as the grandparent are doing, which is ignoring the existence of the Subscriptions view entirely and relying on the home screen to be useful. Using the Subscriptions view is as simple as changing your bookmark. Setting up RSS is a lot more complicated for someone who isn't already using one. If you're already on RSS, no one is suggesting you use Subscriptions instead.

WithinReason 2y ago

I highly recommend Feedbro as an RSS reader.

elpocko 2y ago

There is a "Copy channel ID" link on each channel's page, but it's well hidden. Click "...more" in the channel description, then click "Share channel" to open a popup menu that has the "Copy channel ID" link. It does what it says.

EvanAnderson 2y ago

I worry about YouTube RSS feeds getting popular and Google killing them. Every time I see them discussed publicly I have this "Ssshh! Keep it on the down low!" reaction. I browse YouTube anonymously, have an ad blocker setup that pretty much eliminates all ads, and track my "subscriptions" with RSS. It's highly usable. I use a fork of tt-rss and actually embed the YouTube videos in the reader pane so I never see any of YouTube's algorithmic recommendation schlock (beyond recommendations at the end of videos, which I ignore). Browsing YouTube, the site, is a jarring nightmare. I am considering having my podcatcher use a YouTube downloader to just pull down all the videos in the feeds I watch. I believe Google is throttling yt-dlp to realtime speeds, but I figure if my podcatcher is doing it behind the scenes that shouldn't matter. I maintain curated collections of podcasts I like (in case they ever disappear), and since I just added 40TB if storage to my home system I figure it's time to do that with YouTube too.

badmonkey101 2y ago
Ssshh! Keep it on the down low!
pentagrama 2y ago
Reading your comment this intro started sounding on my mind https://youtu.be/hnlIiDBFlEA https://youtu.be/hnlIiDBFlEA
ibaikov 2y ago
This! I am very sad x/twitter stopped offering RSS and the api price is ridiculous
- account42 2y ago
  Somehow there are still a couple of Nitter instances that keep working despite the API shenanigans: https://status.d420.de/ https://status.d420.de/ I use that for my ex-twitter RSS feeds.
jhot 2y ago
I run pinchflat [0] to automate yt-dlp and file management behind the scenes. Also can integrate with sponsorblock to remove in-video ads. 0 - https://github.com/kieraneglin/pinchflat https://github.com/kieraneglin/pinchflat

trollied 2y ago

Reddit also has feeds that they don't publicise. eg: https://www.reddit.com/r/space/.rss https://www.reddit.com/r/space/.rss Adding /.rss on to the end of lots of URLs works all over the place on the site.

latexr 2y ago

Any half-decent RSS reader will detect the right feed if you give it the channel URL.

hexagonwin 2y ago

Somewhat related, but does anyone know how one can only get RSS for live videos?

User123698745 2y ago
Yes, by using Youtube's special playlist id prefixes and the "playlist_id" query parameter instead "channel_id". Example: For channel id "UCXuqSBlHAE6Xw-yeJA0Tunw" replace the first two letters "UC" (channel ids always start with "UC") with "UULV". The feed url then looks like this: https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?playlist_id=UULVXuqSBlHAE6Xw-yeJA0Tunw https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?playlist_id=UULVXuq... For more special playlist id prefixes see this StackOverflow answer by "coco0419": https://stackoverflow.com/a/76602819 https://stackoverflow.com/a/76602819

lsaferite 2y ago

I just want to contribute by saying that CEE is awesome content and I look forward to every video they post. Happy to randomly see them on HN.

crtasm 2y ago

Is there a way to get a feed for Videos only? This feed includes Shorts.

User123698745 2y ago
Yes, by using Youtube's special playlist id prefixes and the "playlist_id" query parameter instead "channel_id". Example: For channel id "UCXuqSBlHAE6Xw-yeJA0Tunw" replace the first two letters "UC" (channel ids always start with "UC") with "UULF". The feed url then looks like this: https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?playlist_id=UULFXuqSBlHAE6Xw-yeJA0Tunw https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?playlist_id=UULFXuq... It will only contain Videos, no Shorts, but also no Live Streams (in case you want (only) Live Streams use "UULV"). For more special playlist id prefixes see this StackOverflow answer by "coco0419": https://stackoverflow.com/a/76602819 https://stackoverflow.com/a/76602819
- crtasm 2y ago
  Wonderful, thankyou!