# Coping with YouTube
[2026-05-13_youtube]

Modified: 2026-05-13 @ 13:15:40 (Wednesday)
txt

#coping #list #tech

## § Improve ^

- Sponsorblock
  - https://sponsor.ajay.app/
  - Skips over garbage sections of videos. Absolutely required for watching YouTube in $PRESENT_DAY. Widespread support; integrated in many clients.
- DeArrow
  - https://dearrow.ajay.app/
  - Replaces clickbait garbage with descriptive titles and actual thumbnails. Not totally necessary but improves the experience. Not as widely supported as Sponsorblock.
- uBlock Origin
  - https://github.com/gorhill/ublock
  - For if you are ever cursed to open the actual YouTube site. You should have an adblocker installed either way.

## § Download ^

- yt-dlp
  - https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp
- Android: Seal
  - https://github.com/JunkFood02/Seal
  - yt-dlp frontend.

## § Stream ^

- mpv
  - https://mpv.io/
  - Use with yt-dlp for no-bullshit streaming (`mpv https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmD-HlPAVTw`).
- Electron: Freetube
  - https://freetubeapp.io/
  - A less bad "full" YouTube experience (search, etc.) on the desktop.
- Android: Tubular
  - https://github.com/polymorphicshade/Tubular
  - One of many forks of Newpipe.
- Android: PipePipe
  - https://github.com/InfinityLoop1308/PipePipe
  - Another Newpipe fork. Updates with fixes for breakage faster than any others, but also loaded with many features I don't care about, so I use it as a backup.
- Roku: playlet
  - https://github.com/iBicha/playlet
  - Breaks frequently. Better: Jellyfin + yt-dlp.
- Web: Invidious
  - https://invidious.io/
  - Many unreliable public instances.
  - Mostly only useful as a privacy-protecting backend and as a way to share videos with normies.

## § Consult ^

- Increase video speed. Usually 1.2x is comprehensible, and often you can push it further.
- Set player to skip over silence. Usually makes it very unpleasant to listen to but still comprehensible and much faster. A godsend for speakers who take long pauses and ones who talk too fast to just speed it up.
- Read the transcript.
  - Usually there are no proper subtitles, just terrible automatic ones, but these are often good enough to at least find a starting point in the 45-minute unedited "tutorial" you're desperately trying to get info from.
  - Fetch with yt-dlp: `yt-dlp --write-auto-subs --skip-download`
  - Sometimes the abominable official player exposes this and makes it easier to seek but I'm not sure when. Live videos, maybe?

## § See Also ^