Top Extensions to Make YouTube Bearable

Hello fellow, lemmings, lemmur !

If you are like me, you probably spend a lot of time on YouTube, more than you want to admit.

I remember the days when videos had stars instead of thumbs up or down, and when YouTube had, let’s say, more mature content on it.

Now the site has a lot of functionalitys that are great for Google, but that I don’t need nor want.

So, to improve the enjoyment of the platform, I present to you the ultimate extension survival kit for YouTube:

  1. https://ublockorigin.com/: (or your favorite ad-blocker) This is an absolute must-have. It’s a good ad-blocker that not only blocks YouTube ads but also works across all websites. It’s lightweight, efficient, and open-source. Say goodbye to ads.
  2. https://sponsor.ajay.app/: Skip over the sponsored segments of videos. It’s a community-driven project, with users submitting the timestamps of sponsored content. You can even customize it to skip over different types of segments like intros, outros, and more.
  3. https://www.returnyoutubedislike.com/: Since YouTube removed the dislike count, it’s been harder to gauge the quality of videos. This extension brings back the dislike count.
  4. https://dearrow.ajay.app/: Extension for crowdsourcing better titles and thumbnails. It removes click-bait titles and thumbnails providing a cleaner Youtube.
  5. https://github.com/doma-itachi/Youtube-shorts-block: If you’re not a fan of shorts, this extension is for you. It plays the Youtube shorts video as if it were a normal video and hides the “shorts” tab from the left menu. Firefox Link Chrome Link
  6. https://addons.mozilla.org/fr/firefox/addon/enhancer-for-youtube/: Allows you to add theming options, auto-HD, keyboard shortcuts and more.

These are the extensions I use. Don’t hesitate to suggest more. I will edit the post accordingly.

It’s not lost on me that these extensions remove many things that were not initially a problem on YouTube but that either arose because of the monetary incentive of Google handling the website, Youtubers trying to make money, or as countermeasures to problems that were taken care of by a previous extension. This kind of feels like an arms race…

Edit 1: Changed the YouTube Shorts Block description and added Enhancer for YouTube

Kbin_space_program,

If you're on Android, Newpipe, from Newpipe.net, is great.

I found out about it when Google delisted it.

axzxc1236,

Restore YouTube Username from Handle to Custom

This script restores REAL NAMES in comments instead of @user-xxxxxx, I am so sick of that shit, I hope revanced will have this function soon. (Edit: I guess that will never happen)

ratherrisky,

For older/lower end computers, enhanced-h264ify is a godsend. It blocks youtube from playing VP9 codec which can cause heavy cpu usage on older hardware. It can also block 60fps video as well.

Hamartiogonic,
@Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz avatar

Thanks for the tip! Using dearrow has been great so far. I wish I could use it on my iPad too, but I guess now there’s another reason to use my laptop more.

Maheswara,

Tamper monkey with user script to stream YouTube videos as audio…

fidelacchius,

Sponsorblock is a life safer.

autokludge,
@autokludge@programming.dev avatar

I came across Unhook, which lets you remove parts of YouTube that are designed to keep you there.

Changed the YT home page to subscriptions instead of ‘the algorithm’.

ar0177417,

RYS is also similar to unhook but has more features

autokludge,
@autokludge@programming.dev avatar

Thanks for the suggestion, I’ll give it a try.

Open source is a bonus.

Chonk,

I won’t be using ad blockers in YouTube as they help creaters get paid

gringo_dingo,

As Linus Tech Tips pointed out, and many more creators, supporting them on Ko-fi, Patreon, or buying there merch gives them more income then YouTube ads.

TheObserver,

Some creators love spamming a million ads in 1 video. Those ones deserve to be blocked. I’ve added 1 sub to my ignore list (direwolf20) since everyone else wants to add a ridiculous amount of ads.

10EXP,

Truffle improves the livestream watching experience on YouTube significantly, adding a Twitch-style theatre mode (with chat on the side), BetterTTV emotes, and more.

o_d,

I almost installed, but the permissions it asks for feels a bit extreme. I’ll probably stick to creating my own theatre mode by using the enhancer full window mode with the pop-out chat to the side.

partizan,

for quite some time I use newpipe on mobile and freetube on desktop to watch youtube videos… Its not without its problems, but it gets rid of tracking, adds and other nuisance on their sites.

But mostly if I can, I use and support other sites like odysee.com

carzian,

Isn’t odysee shutting down?

partizan,

dont know about that… hope not.

Didz,

No, it is separate from LRBY.

theshatterstone54,

is LBRY shutting down, then?

Didz,

Not that I know of, I just use Odysee and if that goes there is other things online.

KSPAtlas,

Might as well use Peertube, the fediverse option

HelloHotel, (edited )
@HelloHotel@lemmy.world avatar

Ive been yearning for a while a “video or channel for later, go away now. dont show me the same video more than 5 times” plugin

detailswhen I load a video or for the first 5 videos in the recommended section when I press a button, of those not in my subscriptions or whitelist, add the video or whole channel to a blocklist and dont show in any list (home, recommendeds, etc), update lists on open pages to reflect the change

Its ment to cull the garbage and get a more inde youtube, I like an artist called Sui uzi but listen to their diskography once and youtube will drive you to listen to the same tracks repeatedly.

dottedgreenline, (edited )

I am currently stuck with a super old ipad3 on ios9.3.6 and the only way I have been able to watch youtube on it is through the edge browser, nothing else seems to work. But the version of edge is so old that there aren’t any working extensions. I have jailbroken it with phoenix and installed cydia (both of which suddenly stopped working), but it turns out the cydia app that lets you install older versions of stuff has also been discontinued.

I have never not used some sort of adblocker, I am shocked at how often I have to interact with the device to skip ads. You also have to unfullscreen to be able to skip so sometimes I just let the ads run.

I get that ads keep youtube chugging along but, jesus christ, maybe it shouldn’t be chugging along any longer. I was trying to watch a 40 minute video yesterday and there were double ads basically every 6 minutes! I feel the freedom to place ads wherever you want in your own video has really destroyed the youtube experience for those who can’t or won’t use adblockers.

NightOwl,

I recommend a piped instance like piped.video. Website that has adblock and sponsorblock built in so don’t need any extensions or apps. You can also import in your playlist if you want a custom feed from a JSON or CSV file.

They are also on the fediverse !piped

dottedgreenline,

Thanks for the tip. I am enjoying seeing the piped bot providing links on lemmy. Unfortunately the old browser versions that I was able to install (edge and chrome) do not seem to want to load the site, they also give errors saying the site isn’t secure, even though it works fine on my phone. I guess I should be glad I even have the option to watch something on a slightly larger screen.

HelloHotel,
@HelloHotel@lemmy.world avatar

Its a little odd, but onetab+yt-dlp+musicolet alongside newpipe is the best combo for me

pazukaza,

Please keep in mind that every extension you install is an attack vector for hackers. Just because an extension does something cool doesn’t mean you should install it.

Please stick with the most used extensions, the ones that Mozilla recommends. This is for your safety.

EuroNutellaMan,
@EuroNutellaMan@lemmy.world avatar

Youtube non-stop basically prevents the “are you still watching” thing. Useful if you’re like me and listen to playlists on the background while studying.

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