FreeTube is an open source desktop YouTube player built with privacy in mind. Use YouTube without advertisements and prevent Google from tracking you with their cookies and JavaScript. Available for Windows, Mac & Linux thanks to Electron.
Please note that FreeTube is currently in Beta. While it should work well for most users, there are still bugs and missing features that need to be addressed.
Browser Extension
FreeTube is supported by the Privacy Redirect extension, which will allow you to open YouTube links into FreeTube. You must enable the option within the advanced settings for it to work.
Download Privacy Redirect for Firefox or Google Chrome.
If you have issues with the extension working with FreeTube, please create an issue in this repository instead of the extension repository.
How does it work?
FreeTube uses a built in extractor to grab and serve data / videos. The Invidious API can also optionally be used. FreeTube does not use any official APIs to obtain data. While YouTube can still see your video requests, it can no longer track you using cookies or JavaScript. Your subscriptions and history are stored locally on your computer and never sent out. Using a VPN or Tor is highly recommended to hide your IP while using FreeTube.
Go to FreeTube's Documentation if you'd like to know more about how to operate FreeTube and its features.
Screenshots
Features
- Watch videos without ads
- Use YouTube without Google tracking you using cookies and JavaScript
- Two extractor APIs to choose from (Built in or Invidious)
- Subscribe to channels without an account
- Local subscriptions, history, and saved videos
- Organize your subscriptions into "Profiles" to create a more focused feed
- Export & import subscriptions
- Open videos from your browser directly into FreeTube (with extension)
- Mini Player
- Full Theme support
Download Links
Official Downloads
Flatpak on Flathub: Download Source
Unofficial Downloads
These builds are maintained by the community. While they should be safe, download at your own risk. There may be issues with using these versus the official builds. Any issues specific with these builds should be sent to their respective maintainer.
Arch User Repository (AUR): Download
Chocolatey: Download
Windows Portable: Download Source
Automated Builds (Nightly / Weekly)
Builds are automatically created from changes to our development branch via GitHub Actions.
The first build with a green check mark is the latest build. You will need to have a GitHub account to download these builds.
Contributing
If you have an idea or if you found a bug, please submit a GitHub issue so that we can track it. Please search the existing issues before submitting to prevent duplicates.
If you like to get your hands dirty and want to contribute, we would love to have your help. Send a pull request and someone will review your code. Please follow the Contribution Guidelines before sending your pull request.
Thank you very much to the People and Projects that make FreeTube possible!
Localization
We are actively looking for translations! We use Weblate to make it easy for translators to get involved. Click on the badge above to learn how to get involved.
For the Linux Flatpak, the desktop entry comment string can be translated at our Flatpak repository.
Contact
If you ever have any questions, feel free to make an issue here on GitHub. Alternatively, you can email me at [email protected] or you can join our Matrix Community. Don't forget to check out the rules before joining.
You can also stay up to date by reading the FreeTube Blog. View the welcome blog.
Donate
Bitcoin Address: 1Lih7Ho5gnxb1CwPD4o59ss78pwo2T91eS
Monero Address: 48WyAPdjwc6VokeXACxSZCFeKEXBiYPV6GjfvBsfg4CrUJ95LLCQSfpM9pvNKy5GE5H4hNaw99P8RZyzmaU9kb1pD7kzhCB
If you enjoy using FreeTube, you're welcome to leave a donation using the following methods. While your donations are much appreciated, only donate if you really want to. Donations are used for keeping the website up and running and eventual code signing costs.
License
FreeTube is Free Software: You can use, study share and improve it at your will. Specifically you can redistribute and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.