this post was submitted on 15 Mar 2024
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I use Firefox and the uBlock Origin addon as my default browser setup. It works great..except for on youtube. I used to use it happily for youtube with all Ads blocked, but two recent youtube changes made me have to use a different browser and extension, just for youtube.

  1. Firefox users started noticing degraded performance on youtube vs when they viewed youtube with Chrome.

  2. uBlock Origin users in Chrome and Firefox appear to be being targeted with an intermittent covert punishment of having any videos above 360p throttled so that they buffer heavily.

So my current approach, just for youtube, is Chrome with Clear Skies ad skipper extension which gets me good performance and no ads.

What is your setup for youtube without ads?

I'm also interested in youtube alternatives, especially for music.

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 8 months ago (3 children)

I've had zero issues watching YouTube on Firefox with ublock origin. Not one warning received,no performance issues.

[–] Rooki 1 points 8 months ago

It depends on where you live, in Europe ad blockers NEEDS to be allowed on such platforms, i would guess he lives outside and gets punished for using a more open browser

[–] Burn_The_Right 1 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

I am in the U.S. and with no change on my end (Firefox w Ublock Origin) I suddenly began getting all the ads. I noticed it would only happen when I was logged into YouTube/Google though. Creating a new account solved the problem for me with no change to the browser.

Maybe they only roll out their Ublock bypass to select groups of users at one time. Perhaps this is part of some kind of testing?

I've also been told that if you have any other browser extensions installed, the Ublock Origin on Firefox trick may not work.

[–] systemglitch 0 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Ditto in Canada.

[–] Pietrasagh 20 points 8 months ago

Here’s my no-ads YouTube set

https://freetubeapp.io/

windows, Linux Block ads and sponsored sections, optinal invidious proxy, no YouTube login, offline subscription list

https://smartyoutubetv.github.io/

Android TV, Block ads and sponsored sections, smart tv optimized, youtube login if you want to see your subscriptions

https://newpipe.net/

android, Block ads, offline subscription list

[–] [email protected] 19 points 8 months ago

I am using firefox with uBP and didn't noticed a single problem you mentioned. It works fine without any degraded performance or buffering even with 4k 60fps.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 8 months ago

Firefox and uBlock Origin works just fine for blocking YouTube ads. You probably have some other add-on interfering with it that triggers the adblock detection. Restore your adblocker default setting and disable other extensions for YouTube and it should work.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 8 months ago

use Invidious instances with the help of privacy libredirect plugin to redirect youtube links to invidious instances. you won't see another youtube ad again.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I switched to Arch Linux as my operating system a few years ago, and here I use the FreeTube app from the AUR. It's a third party frontend for YouTube, similar to Nitter for Twitter (X).

And for work (Windows) I watch YouTube via Invidious instances, e.g. https://yewtu.be also a third party frontend for YouTube

[–] [email protected] -2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

It's a third party frontend for YouTube, similar to Nitter for Twitter (X).

if I remember correctly, it scrapes the Youtube page directly by default, unless you explicitly enable Invidious proxy. only then it would be comparable to a third party front-end (since that's when it actually uses one).

[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)
[–] drawerair 9 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Youtube works 👍 on Firefox Windows 11 with Ublock origin for me. I could view 1440p. No major issue. Aside from adblocking, I use Ublock origin to block tracking cookies and remove "accept cookies" banners on sites.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago

uBlock Origin's ben working fine for me on Firefox, but then again i don't consume that much youtube nor would i bother.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Firefox, uBlock Origin, adguard DNS, sponsorblock (crowdsourced video sections with auto skip), DeArrow (crowdsourced clickbait replacement), nyancat seek/progress bar, playback speed control, Dark Reader.

Same setup on Windows desktop and my Android devices.

I've noticed videos stopping and buffering after the first few seconds, but not always, and seemingly less so again. It was acceptable to me.

[–] folak 7 points 8 months ago (2 children)
[–] nintendoit 6 points 8 months ago (1 children)

You missed Newpipe.

It is one of the favourites for browsing youtube without ad blocker.

[–] folak 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I don't see the advantage of using newpipe when you can get youtube revanced.

[–] nintendoit 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Vanced simply applies some of the patches over youtube app if I understand currently(I have never used vanced myself), while newpipe is an app to use various video sources (such as youtube, soundcloud, media.ccc.de etc.) created entirely from scratch.

[–] folak 0 points 8 months ago

Yep NewPipe works with various video sources and Vanced is not youtube revanced, you can do a lot of things (called patches) to have a incredible youtube app.

Here you can see all the patches possible in YouTube Revanced : https://revanced.app/patches?s=com.google.android.youtube

I suggest for all to uninstall Newpipe and try YouTube Revanced. (or LibreTube for a privacy-friendly youtube app)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Do you still need to root your phone to use vanced?

[–] folak 2 points 8 months ago

Nop, see the guide above. You can use it with using microg.

BTW : vanced is not revanced.

[–] squirrelwithnut 5 points 8 months ago

Freetube on my PC and NewPipe on my phone. The user experience isn't as good, but no ads of any kind.

[–] LunchEnjoyer 4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

OP, treat yourself to using https://freetubeapp.io/ on desktop. It is in my opinion at least a much better experience than YT via web browser ever was.

[–] helpImTrappedOnline 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Does it support sponser block? Its kind of needed with many of the sponsers spots now pushing 2+ minutes for a 10 minute video.

[–] LunchEnjoyer 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Yes it does! It has also implemented DeArrow for better/normal video thumbnails and titles. Here is a pic of some of the settings >>

[–] helpImTrappedOnline 1 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

Cool, DeArrow is a pleasent suprise too. Can I contribute times and titles to them?

[–] LunchEnjoyer 1 points 8 months ago

Don't know about this, have never done it myself - but i assume so?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

I switched my useragent for youtube only to chrome and mitigated all the issues you are having

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

If we are talking mobile LibreTube has its kinks, but overall I'm happy with it. RiMusic for YT Music. Both on Fdroid.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

Vivaldi with built-in ad block. Every once in a while YouTube changes something and ads get through for a couple of days. Then a Vivaldi update fixes it again quickly. I assume Vivaldi is too small a target for YouTube to care more.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

Newpipe fork and firefox fork with ublock

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

I use a self hosted invidious instance

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

I dont think there is an easy solution for the lacking performance, but to force yt to use a set qulity you can use the FF addon Enhancer for YouTube (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/enhancer-for-youtube/)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

Chromium with uBlock origin mostly does the trick for me. There's the usual back and forth of youtube occasionally getting ads past uBlock.

Firefox with uBlock for everything else.

[–] BurpBlog 1 points 8 months ago

The simplest thing has been to use Brave + uBlock. NewPipe doesn't allow me to search within the same channel, so I discarded it.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 8 months ago

Brave (yes I'm aware ya'll don't need to yap at me).

Yep seriously Brave all on its own blocks YouTube ads and no performance issues (likely thanks to being Chromium based).

To address some complaints about Brave you can uh turn that stuff off. I don't like Crypto so I... have all of that junk disabled. Doesn't bug me whatsoever. Opt in ads (for their stupid crypto coin) are disabled by default (or least where when I installed). And the CEO is a bad person (surprising I know)

[–] PoliticallyIncorrect -2 points 8 months ago

For YouTube WO ads on desktop I use Brave, on mobile I use NewPipe, everything going smooth for years.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 8 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Here is an alternative Piped link(s):

https://piped.video/premium

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.

[–] nintendoit 4 points 8 months ago

Lol, piped premium 🤣🤣🤣🤣, can't recommand it enough

You can always donate though!