PC

Youtube without Youtube

I watch more Youtube content then any other video content, but lately I’ve noticed the algorithm aggressively pushing me towards creators I find distasteful. For years I’ve joked about the “alt-right pipeline” that exists on Youtube (the concept that the algorithm will always lead you to alt-right content). It has been present but usually very easy to avoid. I have found this part of the algorithm to be more aggressive recently which leads me to the fundamental question of this note:

How can I watch Youtube without being on Youtube.com?

Solutions

Luckily, there are several methods for watching Youtube without actually being on Youtube. Even more lucky are the solutions alignment to my recent interests of Home Networking, Self-Hosting, and Open-source Software. I’ll be attempting to list all the solutions I’ve found along with pros and cons.

For now I’m choosing to try out Tube Archivist, check out that page for an evaluation.

Invidious

Invidious is a open-source self-hostable service which is essentially your own personal UI for Youtube. There are publicly hosted instances of invidious you can check out here.

Pros
  • Has accounts which allows users to have subscriptions
  • Integrates with Sponsorblock
  • Well supported by the public with things like redirectors and proxy scripts
Cons
  • Set up is mildly complex
  • The UI is minimal to the point that it may effect functionality

Tube Archivist

Another self hosted service with the key difference that Tube Archivist downloads the youtube video to your storage. This has advantages and obvious disadvantages.

Pros
  • Videos cannot be “taken down” from your personal collection
  • Has integration with Plex and Jellyfin though I found the Plex one to be buggy
  • Browser extension for easy downloading
  • Discord server for support
  • Easy installation
  • Integrates with Sponsorblock
  • Keeping the storage size down may encourage better consumption habits
  • Could possibly integrate with my #iPod workflow to use it for videos on the go
Cons
  • Requires an immense amount of hard drive space depending on how many videos you want to keep
  • Auto-delete functionality only works for played videos
  • Cannot prevent automatic deletion of a single video, only a whole channel

Libretube

TK but primary disadvantage is that it requires a Piped account to actually work well

Grayjay

TK but primary disadvantage is that it’s android only