VacuumTube
VacuumTube is an unofficial wrapper of YouTube Leanback (the console and Smart TV version of YouTube) for the desktop, with a built-in adblocker and minor enhancements.
Features
- Ad-free
- Controller Support
- Dark Mode
- Built-in Ad-blocker
VacuumTube News & Activities
Recent activities
jordancros45 added VacuumTube as alternative to Bilibili APK
flingflangfloder added VacuumTube as alternative to One Video Per Day
arknox added VacuumTube as alternative to Arknox YouTube Embedder
hs47995104 added VacuumTube as alternative to No Cookie YouTube- Creative_joe liked VacuumTube
- LeviSnoot liked VacuumTube
Varun-m added VacuumTube as alternative to NoSuggest
POX added VacuumTube as alternative to TypeType
vnesys added VacuumTube as alternative to Vnesys
justarandom added VacuumTube as alternative to LocalTube Manager
VacuumTube information
Developed by
shyLicensing
Open Source (MIT) and Free product.Written in
Alternatives
65 alternatives listedSupported Languages
- English
AlternativeTo Categories
System & Hardware, Video & MoviesGitHub repository
- 987 Stars
- 59 Forks
- 73 Open Issues
- Updated
Featured in Lists
Apps that work well with Plasma Bigscreen, the revived TV interface for Linux.
What is VacuumTube?
VacuumTube is an unofficial wrapper of YouTube Leanback (the console and Smart TV version of YouTube) for the desktop, with a built-in adblocker and minor enhancements. What exactly is this?
It is not a custom client, YouTube Leanback is an official interface. This project simply encompasses it and makes it usable as a standalone desktop application.
YouTube Leanback is just an HTML5 app, and so you can just use it in your browser by going to https://www.youtube.com/tv, but they intentionally block browsers unless it's one of their console or TV apps.
You can technically bypass this by spoofing your user agent, but it isn't the same experience you'd get on a console or TV as it doesn't support controllers outside of the official app, and it's just a much more involved process to get it working.
VacuumTube solves all of this by wrapping it with Electron, pretending to be the YouTube app, implementing controller and touch support, and overall making it a much better experience than just spoofing your user agent.