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Player and editing

Open a downloaded file or playlist from the library. The browser plays the saved media; codec support depends on your browser and the format you downloaded.

Playback controls

  • Chapters: use the chapter selector or timeline segments when chapter metadata is available.
  • Subtitles: toggle saved subtitle tracks when the file has them.
  • Theater mode: expands the viewing area and darkens the surrounding interface. Move over the toolbar area to reveal its controls.
  • Video blackout: hides the picture while keeping playback available for listening.
  • Autoplay: continues through the queue below the player. In a playlist it follows that collection; for an individual file it can load more from your library.
  • Loop: plays the video again when it ends; enabling Autoplay and Loop changes the other mode so they do not compete. With a mouse, it is in the right-click menu. On a phone or tablet, which has no right-click, it is the button beside Autoplay in the queue below the player.
  • Right-click menu: right-click the video for Loop and Copy video URL, plain or at the current time. On the timeline, the time is the one under the pointer, or the current time on the playhead. A second right-click opens the browser's own menu.
  • Share a part: right-click the timeline ahead of the playhead and the menu also offers the part from the current time to the time under the pointer, such as Copy video URL at 13:35–14:55. It copies the part it shows, even once the video has played past it. The link plays that part and stops, or plays it again with Loop on. Press play at its end, or seek out of it, to watch the rest.

Autoplay preference is remembered in your browser. The separate Force autoplay setting applies to the Home download flow's autoplay choice. Browsers may still require a user gesture before playing with sound.

Cast to a TV

On Android, videos use the browser's own playback controls. Tap the video to show them: Cast is in their ⋮ menu, listed once the browser has found a cast device on your network for the file.

To cast, select the cast button at the start of the row below the video. When the file needs a playback link or a compatible copy it gets one first, then the player says whether your browser has found a device for it.

On desktop, the custom player's bar uses the browser's Remote Playback API to offer casting when available. Safari uses AirPlay; support varies between browsers.

  • Desktop Chrome and Edge stream the video from the browser. Everywhere else, including Chrome on Android, the device fetches the file from the server itself. It has to reach the address you open ytdl-material at, so localhost will not work, and a login page in front of the app, such as a reverse proxy's, stops it.
  • In multi-user mode the device gets a six-hour playback link for that one file, never your login. Casting then needs the sharing permission and works only for files in your own library.
  • Chrome on Android cannot cast AV1, which is often what yt-dlp picks. When the browser will not cast the file as it is, the server makes an H.264 copy first, and the player says when it is ready. Other codecs, HEVC included, go as they are, so the device itself has to be able to play them.
  • A cast carries on through Autoplay when the next file can be cast straight away, and stops otherwise. Leaving the player ends it.

The information dialog shows the file's metadata and available actions. Expand the description for longer source notes.

Save a snip

A snip saves part of an existing file as a new library item, leaving the source intact.

  1. Open the file's information dialog and choose Snip.
  2. Set the beginning and end of the selection using the range controls.
  3. Choose Preview to check the selection.
  4. Select Create snip and wait for processing to finish.

Snipping requires a registered file, a known duration, and file-management permission. The result stays within the source's user or subscription storage area.

Crop a new download

On Home, open the advanced download options and enable Crop file. Set Crop from (seconds) and Crop to (seconds) before downloading. The backend downloads and trims the result before registering it in the library; it does not keep a separate full-length library item for you.

Use Snip from the player when you already have a file and want to keep both the full recording and a shorter selection.

Video processing uses ffmpeg on the server. Administrators can enable hardware acceleration; the app checks the encoder and decoder and falls back to software when necessary.

Other media tools

The player exposes downloading and sharing when permitted. SponsorBlock integration can provide a skip action when segment information is available and the integration is enabled. Twitch recordings can include a chat panel when chat was downloaded; enable automatic chat download in Settings → Extra if you want it for future recordings.

If playback fails while downloading the file to your computer works, check browser codec support before redownloading. A source's highest-quality format is not necessarily the most compatible browser format.