https://yewtu.be/ as replacement for youtu.be

[Rava]

If you want to watch youtube videos and not need the highest quality only, but are disinterested in all the jazz off advertisement Google pulls on youtube, try https://yewtu.be/

And it woks without the need to allow JavaScript.

It mirrors all yt videos (so it is said) but not always the highest of 4HD video resolutions.

More info on the code behind yewtu.be:
https://github.com/iv-org/invidious (original code)
https://github.com/unixfox/invidious-custom (modified code)

Have fun, hope it is helpful to some, especially for folks with restricted hardware or restricted internet connectivity.

Also, please consider what donald writes in the post below:

Guys - please don't put too much strain on one server.
...and pick one near to your location from this list of invidious instances:
https://api.invidious.io

[donald]

yewtu.be
Guys - please don't put too much strain on one server.
...and pick one near to your location from this list of invidious instances:
https://api.invidious.io

[Rava]

yewtu.be
Guys - please don't put too much strain on one server.
...and pick one near to your location from this list of invidious instances:
https://api.invidious.io

Thanks for that, I thought the software would do the scaling and choosing of the servers by itself.

But good to know when it's not like so.

[seed_clapper]

please don't put too much strain on one server

Did they fixed other instances defaulting to AV1 in DASH mode? When I tried invidious some time ago only yewtu.be was able to provide VP9 stream through DASH.
Support for hardware decoding AV1 codec was added to Intel CPUs only starting from 11th generation (2020).

By default invidious just provide direct link to a stream with both video and audio. This is limited to AVC up to 720p. Some instances have a setting to act as proxy server if you are not happy with connecting directly to youtube servers.
For 1080p+ you need to change to DASH quality (separate video & audio). This forces invidious to act as proxy thus puts a strain on invidious instance and may be unstable. It also provides only AV1 video codec which is close to HEVC in CPU usage.
If your PC is old and you want to watch youtube videos in VP9 1080p+ then you should use mpv+yt-dlp or limit your choices to https://yewtu.be/ and https://piped.video/.

[Rava]

use mpv+yt-dlp or limit your choices to https://yewtu.be/ and https://piped.video/.

In contrast to what yewtu.be does without JavaScript (that is: it works just fine), it seems piped.video is unable to do anything reasonable without JavaScript?

Added in 30 minutes 5 seconds:

By default invidious just provide direct link to a stream with both video and audio. This is limited to AVC up to 720p.

I am not that familiar with high resolution codexes.
But I searched via a local https://api.invidious.io/ for a 4K test video and found "LXb3EKWsInQ" titled "COSTA RICA IN 4K 60fps HDR (ULTRA HD)" (sorry for the all CapsLock title, not my shouting here; I put the font size to only 85% to reduce the shouting via CapsLock ) and it is amazing.

yt-dlp via https://yewtu.be/ :

Code: Select all

guest@rava:~$ yt-dlp -F https://invidious.lunar.icu/watch?v=LXb3EKWsInQ|tail
WARNING: [generic] Falling back on generic information extractor
400 mp4   2560x1440   60 10     |  207.25MiB  5541k https | av01.0.12M.10  5541k video only          1440p60 HDR, mp4_dash
700 mp4   2560x1440   60 10     |  508.28MiB 13588k https | av01.0.12M.10 13588k video only          1440p60 HDR, mp4_dash
639 mp4   2560x1440   60 10     | ~685.60MiB 17887k m3u8  | vp09.02.50.10 17887k video only
336 webm  2560x1440   60 10     |  606.59MiB 16217k https | vp09.02.50.10 16217k video only          1440p60 HDR, webm_dash
628 mp4   3840x2160   60        | ~  1.05GiB 28120k m3u8  | vp09.00.51.08 28120k video only
315 webm  3840x2160   60        |  952.43MiB 25462k https | vp09.00.51.08 25462k video only          2160p60, webm_dash
401 mp4   3840x2160   60 10     |  435.51MiB 11643k https | av01.0.13M.10 11643k video only          2160p60 HDR, mp4_dash
701 mp4   3840x2160   60 10     |  931.57MiB 24905k https | av01.0.13M.10 24905k video only          2160p60 HDR, mp4_dash
642 mp4   3840x2160   60 10     | ~  1.21GiB 32285k m3u8  | vp09.02.51.10 32285k video only
337 webm  3840x2160   60 10     |    1.05GiB 28822k https | vp09.02.51.10 28822k video only          2160p60 HDR, webm_dash
guest@rava:~$ 

compared to youtu.be itself:

Code: Select all

guest@rava:~$ yt-dlp -F LXb3EKWsInQ|tail
400 mp4   2560x1440   60 10     |  207.25MiB  5541k https | av01.0.12M.10  5541k video only          1440p60 HDR, mp4_dash
700 mp4   2560x1440   60 10     |  508.28MiB 13588k https | av01.0.12M.10 13588k video only          1440p60 HDR, mp4_dash
639 mp4   2560x1440   60 10     | ~685.60MiB 17887k m3u8  | vp09.02.50.10 17887k video only
336 webm  2560x1440   60 10     |  606.59MiB 16217k https | vp09.02.50.10 16217k video only          1440p60 HDR, webm_dash
628 mp4   3840x2160   60        | ~  1.05GiB 28120k m3u8  | vp09.00.51.08 28120k video only
315 webm  3840x2160   60        |  952.43MiB 25462k https | vp09.00.51.08 25462k video only          2160p60, webm_dash
401 mp4   3840x2160   60 10     |  435.51MiB 11643k https | av01.0.13M.10 11643k video only          2160p60 HDR, mp4_dash
701 mp4   3840x2160   60 10     |  931.57MiB 24905k https | av01.0.13M.10 24905k video only          2160p60 HDR, mp4_dash
642 mp4   3840x2160   60 10     | ~  1.21GiB 32285k m3u8  | vp09.02.51.10 32285k video only
337 webm  3840x2160   60 10     |    1.05GiB 28822k https | vp09.02.51.10 28822k video only          2160p60 HDR, webm_dash
guest@rava:~$ 

To me that looks like https://api.invidious.io/ delivers the full resolutions just fine.

@seed_clapper , am I missing something here?
Or do you only refer to what I get when watching it, not what I get when downloading via yt-dlp?

[seed_clapper]

Or do you only refer to what I get when watching it

Yes.
yt-dlp just switches to youtube
https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues ... 1626642402
https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues ... 1605231954

it seems piped.video is unable to do anything reasonable without JavaScript?

Yes.

[Rava]

Yes.
[…]
Yes.

That explains a lot. Thanks for the heads up.