This extension adds the following functionality to youtube.com and m.youtube.com:
-
Audio only playback:
- On desktop it adds a toggle in the lower right corner of the video player to enable audio-only playback, allowing you to save battery by disabling the video rendering and bandwidth by downloading only the audio stream.
- On mobile it adds a semi-transparent floating button on the lower left part of the screen to enable audio-only playback, you can also "leave" the page and playback should continue normally.
- Seamlessly switch between audio-only and video playback using the toggle on desktop or button on mobile.
-
Limitations:
- Doesn't work with live content.
- On desktop using the YT miniplayer may have unexpected results.
- Depending on your network connection on some rare cases it may take a couple of seconds to get the audio-only stream, until it does (and also depending if you have autoplay enabled or not) it may render the video first but just for a brief moment.
Install it directly from Mozilla here.
NOTE: If the currently uploaded mobile AMO version is not working as expected try installing manually the v0.19 release from here on github that uses a different logic, it's signed by Mozilla.
Desktop usage: (disabled/enabled)
Mobile usage: (disabled/enabled)
Used the main logic code from here.
The extension is heavily commented and was created for educational purposes only.
Logo created using AI with the following prompt: "create a logo using the silhouette of a headphone with mostly a red shadow printing the letters Y and T that does not infringe copyright" @ https://diffusionart.co.
The SVG icon path was created with https://www.svgviewer.dev/.
Works best alongside an adblocker like ublock Origin.