Viewing YouTube videos with free software
Date: Sat, 30 Jan 2016 16:20:56 +1100 From: Ben Finney <ben+freesoftware@benfinney.id.au> To: free-software-melb@lists.softwarefreedom.com.au Subject: [free-software-melb] Viewing YouTube videos with free software (was: Tor onion services: more useful than you think) Message-ID: <851t8zfxs7.fsf@benfinney.id.au> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
Andri Effendi <fusionman133@gmx.de> writes:
To watch [a video at a YouTube URL] with exclusively Free Software, you can use VLC Media Player.
Another option, which I make use of, is the ‘youtube-dl’ program <URL:https://rg3.github.io/youtube-dl/> which simply parses the page, finds the video, and downloads it with an appropriate file name.
Packaged in many systems; in Debian it is ‘youtube-dl’.
One caveat: the program essentially is a clever web scraper, so it is vulnerable to the site changing how its pages are put together. YouTube itself is notorious for changing frequently such that scrapers break. You need to keep a program like ‘youtube-dl’ up to date to ensure you can continue to download videos.
Another option for viewing YouTube with Free Software is Minitube which provides a GUI frontend for YouTube without the need for a browser. Homepage here: http://flavio.tordini.org/minitube Git Repo here: https://github.com/flaviotordini/minitube Review here: https://linuxluddites.com/shows/episode-54/ Tim -- Vote NO in referenda.
Tim Hamilton <hamilton.tim@gmail.com> writes:
Another option for viewing YouTube with Free Software is Minitube which provides a GUI frontend for YouTube without the need for a browser.
I think I come into this discussion late. What is the problem with watching YouTube with a open source browser such as FireFox? -- Brian May <brian@microcomaustralia.com.au>
Brian May <brian@microcomaustralia.com.au> writes:
Tim Hamilton <hamilton.tim@gmail.com> writes:
Another option for viewing YouTube with Free Software is Minitube which provides a GUI frontend for YouTube without the need for a browser.
I think I come into this discussion late. What is the problem with watching YouTube with a open source browser such as FireFox?
The website won't operate properly without non-free code running in the browser. If you don't trust YouTube to run programs on your computer, that's a bad option. Using VLC to view the video from its URL, or downloading the video with ‘youtube-dl’, avoid executing any of the non-free code. -- \ “Oh, I realize it's a penny here and a penny there, but look at | `\ me: I've worked myself up from nothing to a state of extreme | _o__) poverty.” —Groucho Marx | Ben Finney
Ben Finney <ben+freesoftware@benfinney.id.au> writes:
The website won't operate properly without non-free code running in the browser. If you don't trust YouTube to run programs on your computer, that's a bad option.
What non-free code is this? -- Brian May <brian@microcomaustralia.com.au>
Brian May <brian@microcomaustralia.com.au> writes:
Ben Finney <ben+freesoftware@benfinney.id.au> writes:
The website won't operate properly without non-free code running in the browser. If you don't trust YouTube to run programs on your computer, that's a bad option.
What non-free code is this?
Non-free programs downloaded by your browser, from the website and other third-party websites as specified by the page. <URL:https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/javascript-trap.html> Enabling HTML5 video on YouTube means you avoid non-free Flash programs. It still requires you run non-free JavaScript programs. <URL:https://documentfreedom.org/rmflash/html5-how.en.html> The LibreJS effort is the beginning of a way out of this; we're not out yet. <URL:https://www.gnu.org/software/librejs/> -- \ “The cost of a thing is the amount of what I call life which is | `\ required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long | _o__) run.” —Henry David Thoreau | Ben Finney
participants (3)
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Ben Finney -
Brian May -
Tim Hamilton