Summary
This release of FreeTube represents an incredible amount of hard work and persistence from the project and its contributors. It brings major improvements across playback, performance, and platform support, with the most significant changes detailed in the FreeTube, YouTube, and Electron sections below.
We’d like to extend a special thank you to @LuanRT, maintainer of YouTube.js and @absidue, for repeatedly helping us resolve that various issues that have impacted playback over time. Your expertise has been invaluable in keeping FreeTube functional through YouTube’s ongoing changes.
A special thank you as well to @PikachuEXE and @absidue for their work on implementing SABR support, a challenging but essential step in adapting FreeTube to YouTube’s evolving streaming methods.
We also want to give a big thank you to the Shaka Player team (@avelad, @joeyparrish, @matvp91, @tykus160, @TAhub, @mariocynicys) for their responsiveness and collaboration. They’ve been quick to fix bugs we’ve reported and their willingness to implement requested functionality have been invaluable to FreeTube.
Lastly, we would like to thank all the translators that make FreeTube more accessible to all of our users!
FreeTube
- Implemented SABR playback support via the local API, restoring audio track selection in the player. Watch pages now load faster, but may show timers for pre-roll ads and SABR backoff. The displayed timer values are provided by YouTube and we have no control over them. If playback fails, it will automatically retry or reload. For more details on SABR, see #7119 (comment).
- Updated the player to a newer version of Shaka Player with a modernization of the UI. The interface is now cleaner and closely aligned with YouTube’s look and feel.
- Removed the Restart window keyboard shortcut. It is known to be unstable and frequently causes allot of issues when used, despite prior guidance to avoid it. As an alternative, use the keyboard shortcuts for navigating back and forward to achieve the same result.
- The built-in download feature has been removed. This functionality was already partially broken and became completely unusable following the introduction of SABR. In its existing state, it lacked many features users typically expect from a YouTube downloader, and restoring it would have required a significant rewrite just to bring it back to a minimal, maintenance-level condition. Given the scope of work required and the availability of more robust, dedicated tools such as yt-dlp and various online download services, we determined that removing the built-in downloader was the most practical decision.
YouTube
- YouTube has removed its Trending page, but FreeTube’s Trending page remains available by sourcing data from the trending sections of the Gaming, Sports, and Podcasts channels.
- YouTube has updated its search filters, and FreeTube has been updated to match these changes.
Electron
Updating from Electron v34 to Electron v41 introduces the following notable changes:
- macOS 11 is no longer supported, as Electron v38.0.0 does not support this OS version. macOS 12 (Monterey) or later is required to run FreeTube going forward.
- Wayland is supported out of the box in Electron v38.2.0 and newer (if you were previously launching your Electron apps with very long commands like CONFUSING_OZONE_VARIABLE --ozone-platform=wayland, you no longer need to do that).
Known issues
- Sorting on channel pages isnt working
- Daily YouTube RSS outages affects the Subscription page
- Auto video quality isnt working with SABR so it will be patched out for this release
Features
- Clickable playlist progress bar by @PikachuEXE and @NishPatel101 in #7782
- Add Everforest color themes by @DontBlameMe99 in #6468
- Add support for channel's Courses tab by @ChunkyProgrammer in #6641
- Add playlist duration to playlist view by @MarmadileManteater in #7007
- Add watch progress saving setting with multiple different modes by @PikachuEXE in #6754
- Add support for upcoming livestream trailers by @ChunkyProgrammer in #6375
- Add "New Windows" item to the Windows taskbar and macOS dock menu by @rugabunda in #7049
- Add more YouTube keyboard shortcuts to the player by @efb4f5ff-1298-471a-8973-3d47447115dc in #7487
- Implement a "search X in new window" context menu item by @PikachuEXE in #7477
- Add a reset button to the search filters by @ozrendev in #7531
- Add sort by date on history page by @anurag2787 in #7157
- Handle more YouTube URLs by @absidue in #7654
- Add support for transcript voice replies with the local API by @ChunkyProgrammer in #7573
- Add support for viewing posts with the Local API by @ChunkyProgrammer in #7728
- Add keyboard shortcuts to go to the next or previous item while viewing playlists on the watch page by @im-jking in #7593
- Add an option to the Parental Control settings to hide the video uploader on the watch page by @DontBlameMe99 in #7514
- Show a popup in the player when rewinding or fast forwarding by @caetano-dev in #7729
- Add an option to minimise to the system tray on Windows and Linux by @Devenor in #6915
- Show liked by uploader on nested comments by @ozrendev in #7926
- Transform in-app URLs into YouTube URLs when dragging them by @absidue in #7970
- Support exporting single playlists as a list of video URLs by @absidue in #8054
- Show player controls on keyboard interaction by @caetano-dev in #7757
- Add username and password fields for proxies support by @Vaipex in #7996
- Add a "New Window" button to the tray menu by @Devenor in #7995
- Add Catpuccin Latte Theme by @ozrendev in #7943
- Add support for importing and exporting YouTube and FreeTube search history by @absidue in #8237
- Add a share button to posts by @aditya0155 in #8317
- Add support for exporting watch history in YouTube's JSON format by @absidue in #8323
- Support exporting single playlists in YouTube's CSV format by @absidue in #8430
- Add a "Show All Windows" button to the tray menu by @absidue in #8494
- Implement YouTube's SABR by @PikachuEXE in #8047
- Add button to open live YouTube's live chat popup in the browser by @ozrendev in #8278
- Add support for showing premier videos in the Up Next section by @absidue in #7848
Fixes
- Prevent scrolling inside a prompt from scrolling the page behind it by @antoniosarro in #6698
- Fix video pausing when saving a screenshot to the default folder by @absidue in #6721
- Fix layout issues caused by videos with very long titles in the Up Next section by @ozrendev in #6731
- Fix incorrect 'Enter' behaviour when using IME input by @j-nava in #6799
- Fix search history texts overflowing for long search terms by @ozrendev in #6728
- Fix Matrix URLs by @efb4f5ff-1298-471a-8973-3d47447115dc in #6891
- Fix loading the community tab on channels with the Invidious API by @ChunkyProgrammer in #6933
- Fix CTRL+click to reset playback rate not working by @absidue in #6943
- Fix search suggestions erroring with long search queries by @absidue in #6955
- Fix layout issues on the About page on smaller screens by @NeonMan5311 in #7012
- Fix being able to have duplicate keyword search history due to spaces by @PikachuEXE in #7110
- Fix images not showing up occasionally because of YouTube ratelimits by @absidue in #7151
- Fix playback rate handling while loading/buffering by @absidue in #7178
- Fix live streams not working on the local API by @absidue in #7233
- Fix the channel name not showing up on the channel home tab by @absidue in #7232
- Fix shorts not being imported from FreeTube playlist exports by @absidue in #7083
- Ensure there is at most one power save blocker per open window by @absidue in #7247
- Pause player when opening recommended video in external player by @absidue in #7387
- Fix opening links in new windows not working correctly by @absidue in #7417
- Fix channel about tab not showing any information with the Local API by @absidue in #7446
- Fix translations with broken placeholders by @absidue in #7474
- Fix parsing related channels without a subscriber count on the channel home page by @absidue in #7486
- Fix the FreeTube logo now showing up on the taskbar on Linux by @absidue in #7392
- Fix playlist videos disappearing when sorted differently by @absidue in #7490
- Fix the profile selector not closing when selecting a profile in the profile selector by @PikachuEXE in #7419
- Fix Alt+D not focusing the main search field on macOS by @PikachuEXE in #7448
- Fix opening URL in a new window restores main window on Windows by @PikachuEXE in #7489
- Fix livestreams not being labelled as live on the channel home tab by @ozrendev in #7595
- Fix some search suggestions being treated as search history by @caetano-dev in #7721
- Fix Change Media Formats being cut off when the Hide Sharing Actions setting is enabled by @caetano-dev in #7726
- Fix layout issues with the watched progress bar for videos that are only 1 second long by @caetano-dev in #7727
- Fix scroll to seek/change volume/playback rate changing too fast on touchpads by @PikachuEXE in #6666
- Fix the Region for Trending setting showing the wrong value when the Settings page is set as the Default Landing Page is set to the Settings page by @caetano-dev in #7704
- Fix search suggestions being cut off when selected with keyboard keys by @caetano-dev in #7734
- Fix the extended navigation menu not closing on smaller screens by @caetano-dev in #7725
- Fix selecting a new quick bookmark playlist by @absidue in #7803
- Respect watch history setting when opening in a video in an external player by @absidue in #7853
- Fix "Show Added Items" not working for "Hide Videos from Channels" by @absidue in #7854
- Fix the playback rate being reset when video ends by @caetano-dev in #7718
- Fix the full screen button not showing up for live streams in the player by @absidue in #8065
- Handle videos without a view count in the Up Next section by @absidue in #8066
- Fix not being able to add videos to playlists by @PikachuEXE in #8082
