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.

  • Bebo@literature.cafeEnglish
    26·
    8 months ago

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

    • Rooki@lemmy.worldEnglish
      21·
      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@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      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.

  • catculation@lemmy.zipEnglish
    19·
    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.

  • Thorny_Insight@lemm.eeEnglish
    17·
    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.

  • anticurrent@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    13·
    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.

  • Davokin@feddit.de
    111·
    8 months ago

    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

    • noodlejetski@lemm.eeEnglish
      13·
      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).

  • drawerair@lemmy.worldEnglish
    101·
    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.

  • 0x0@programming.devEnglish
    9·
    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.

  • Kissaki@feddit.deEnglish
    7·
    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@lemmy.worldEnglish
        21·
        8 months ago

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

        • nintendoit@lemmy.worldEnglish
          5·
          8 months ago

          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@lemmy.worldEnglish
            11·
            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)

      • folak@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        8 months ago

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

        BTW : vanced is not revanced.

      • Lunch@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        8 months ago

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

  • illi@lemm.eeEnglish
    3·
    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.

  • zerofk@lemm.eeEnglish
    3·
    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.