When FreeTube is blocked use ytfzf
I used to use FreeTube to have an ad free YouTube experience while following all my subscriptions. But it seems my IP address gets blocked after a while for use with FreeTube. My solution: 'ytfzf'.
Use ytfzf instead of FreeTube for your YouTube subscriptions
ytfzf seems to work even when my IP is blocked for use with FreeTube. So I completely switched to it and have no problems anymore. But be aware that ytfzf is not under active development anymore. The FINAL release of it was made in January of 2024. But it should still work in the foreseeable future.
ytfzf is a terminal application and therefore has a little of a learning curve. It also has some dependencies:
- ytfzf - The main program
- fzf - used for fuzzy searching
- ueberzug - Used for displaying thumbnails in the terminal (maybe ueberzugpp will also do, not sure)
- yt-dlp - YouTube downloader for the terminal
- mpv - Videoplayer to use with ytfzf
Export your FreeTube subscriptions to ytfzf
At first you have to export your subscriptions from FreeTube. There is a function for that in the preferences. Make sure you take the csv version of the YouTube links. The filename will be something like 'youtube-subscriptions-2025-02-25.csv'.
Then you have to delete the first line of the file:
sed -i '1d' youtube-subscription-2025-02-25.csv
Then you extract the channel links with awk and place the file in the ytfzf configuration dir:
awk -F, '{print $2}' youtube-subscription-2025-02-25.csv > subscriptions
mv subscriptions ~/.config/ytfzf/
Create ytfzf conf.sh file
Then you need to put a conf.sh file in your ~/.config/ytfzf/ directory:
Then ytfzf is already usable. But there are some things to make your life easier.
Define some aliases
You should also define some aliases in your .bashrc, .zshrc or whatever shell you're using:
This should give you the commands 'yt' 'yt-subs' and 'ody'. I've made the experience, when the resolution of the video is higher than 1080p then it stutters. So you should press 'ALT-f' to choose the resolution of the video to play. There are several keyboard shortcuts you can read about in the man page.
Final words
Now you should have a fully working ytfzf terminal YouTube browser and can get rid of FreeTube with IP blocking. And of course *AD FREE*!
I couldn't get the history function working properly and the download of the metadata and thumbnails always stalls. If you have a solution to this problem, please tell me. I would really appreciate that.
Otherwise I think 'ytfzf' is a good and after all working alternative to FreeTube. Maybe you'll have some problems getting used to it if you're not used to the command line and TUI applications at first. But you really should try.
All in all - Have fun!
-fab-
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