Today's Deep-Dive: Invidious
Ep. 184

Today's Deep-Dive: Invidious

Episode description

This episode provides an overview of Invidious, an open-source alternative front-end for YouTube. It emphasizes that Invidious offers a different user interface while still accessing the same vast library of videos on YouTube. Key benefits of using Invidious include enhanced privacy, as it does not track user viewing habits, and the absence of ads, allowing for a smoother viewing experience. The platform is described as lightweight and ethically designed, focusing on user control without the distractions typical of mainstream platforms.

Users can create accounts within Invidious, independent of Google, enabling them to manage subscriptions and playlists autonomously. The document explains that Invidious does not rely on YouTube’s official APIs, allowing it to bypass ads and handle user data differently. While users can easily access public instances of Invidious without technical expertise, there is also an option to host a private instance. The community-driven nature of Invidious is highlighted, with numerous contributors involved in its development, though users are cautioned about the reliability of third-party instances. Overall, Invidious presents an alternative that prioritizes privacy, user control, and a less distracting online experience.

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0:00

welcome to the deep dive great to be here today we're looking into something

0:04

pretty interesting actually it's a different way to interact with one of

0:09

the biggest websites out there yeah we're talking about YouTube but through

0:12

a different lens exactly we're diving into something called invidious now for

0:17

this deep dive we're mostly pulling from the project's own words you know the

0:22

descriptions on their github page where the code lives and also bits from their

0:26

official website right going straight to the source our goal here is really to

0:30

unpack what invidious actually is why would someone use it instead of you know

0:36

regular YouTube and what are the key features yeah exactly and we want to

0:39

make it easy to understand even if you've never heard terms like alternative

0:44

front-end before it should make sense absolutely keep it approachable before

0:49

we really get into it though just a quick thank you to our sponsor this deep

0:53

dive is supported by safe server safe server is great because they actually

0:57

handle hosting for this exact kind of software you know open source stuff they

1:03

can really help out if you're looking at your own digital transformation projects

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so if you need hosting or support you can find out more at www.safe server

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dot DE just type that in www.e.ufsafarver.de to know okay so let's tackle

1:24

this term alternative front-end right what are we actually talking about here

1:29

when we say that about YouTube well the project itself calls invidious an

1:33

open-source alternative front-end to YouTube right so think about the normal

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YouTube website or the app on your phone that's the usual front-end the interface

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right how it looks how you click around how you watch videos the part you

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actually see in you exactly invidious is what's a completely different interface

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built by a totally separate group of people okay it still connects you to the

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same videos the huge library on YouTube it just presents everything lets you

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interact through its own design its own rules almost and it's open source you

2:00

mentioned yeah that's key open source means the code the blueprint for how

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it's built is public anyone can look at it use it even suggest changes or

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contribute so it's not run by like a big corporation with the same motives as

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YouTube itself precisely this different team this community they have different

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priorities different goals for what the experience should be like okay and that

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leads to the really interesting question I think why bother right if the regular

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YouTube site is right there why use this this different doorway what's the draw

2:32

well the benefits the invidious project emphasizes really come down to giving

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you the user more control and just a very different feel okay like what a

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huge one probably the biggest for many is privacy ah always a big topic

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definitely the sources say it's privacy focused they explicitly stated aims to

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protect you from the prying eyes of Google no and features no tracking so on

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regular YouTube pretty much everything you watch click on search for it it's

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tracked logged linked to your account yeah for recommendations ads all that

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stuff right in videos tries to act as a shield there when you use it the idea is

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your viewing habits aren't being scooped up and tied back to a big Google profile

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in the same way so you can watch without leaving quite so many digital footprints

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behind for you know data collection exactly it's about separating the

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watching from the harvesting you could say okay privacy is a big one what else

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what's another really practical benefit one that pretty much everyone notices

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right away no ads oh really no ads at all the documentation is clear in videos

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allows you to watch videos without being disturbed by annoying ads Wow they even

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mentioned it supports sponsor block which is slightly different that's about

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skipping sponsored segments inside videos but the main point is the platform ads

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gone so no pre-roll ads no mid-roll interruptions nope that alone makes the

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viewing experience totally different for a lot of people I can imagine that's

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huge okay so privacy no as what about just using it how does it feel compared

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to standard YouTube is it just like bare bones not necessarily bare bones but

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definitely different by design they describe it as lightweight lightweight

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meaning probably faster loading less demanding on your computer or phone they

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also mentioned no JavaScript required for basic viewing now that's a bit

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technical yeah what does that mean for me the user it generally means things

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might load quicker especially if you have a slower internet connection or

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maybe an older device it uses fewer resources okay and they also talk about

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it being ethically designed they use the term humane design you mean design that

4:39

sounds interesting the idea it seems is to help you regain focus so the

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interface isn't constantly trying to grab your attention autoplay the next

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thing keep you scrolling forever fighting against the infinite scroll and the

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algorithms designed to keep you glued kind of yeah it feels more designed for

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you to watch what you intended to watch rather than getting sucked down a rabbit

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hole more intentional that really speaks to how some people feel overwhelmed by

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modern platforms so invidious offers a different philosophy there exactly and

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that ties into another aspect independence how it handles things like

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subscriptions and accounts oh right you don't need a Google account you can

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create accounts within invidious itself and build playlists but crucially the

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sources say this is without needing a YouTube account so my list of channels I

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follow my saved videos yeah it all lives just within invidious yes your

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subscriptions are independent from Google you can basically build your own

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little YouTube world without ever logging into Google that's a level of

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like digital autonomy you don't often get on the big platform precisely and

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it's not like it's missing features either the sources list things you'd

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expect light and dark themes always popular right a customizable home page so

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you see what you want first notifications for channels you subscribe

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to okay and a really neat one an audio only mode oh like for playing music or

6:01

podcasts yeah and it can even play in the background on mobile devices so you

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can listen with the screen off that's super useful definitely and it can even

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pull in ready comments for videos sometimes which is an alternative

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discussion source plus lots of language translations thanks to volunteers Wow

6:18

okay that's actually pretty complete package for an alternative hmm so if

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someone's listening and thinking all right I'm curious I want to check this

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out what's the easiest way do I need to download code and be a tech wizard no

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not at all this is where the quick start point they mentioned is perfect for

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beginners you absolutely do not need to install anything yourself just to try it

6:38

okay good so how does it work then well because it's open source lots of

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different people and groups run their own public versions of the Nvidia

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software these are called instances instances okay like different public

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servers running the same software that's it exactly so the easiest way to get

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started is just to find one of these public instances the project website

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usually has a list ah so there's a list somewhere yep you literally just select

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a public instance from the list and start watching videos right now click a

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link it opens in your web browser like any other site and boom you're using

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Nvidia's no installation needed just to watch nope super easy to just test the

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waters that is really low friction just pick a server from a list and you're off

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but I assume for people who are more technical the option to host it yourself

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is there oh absolutely the full documentation is available if you want

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to get into the weeds set up your own private instance on your own server or

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even contribute code back to the project make sense and you mentioned something

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earlier that helps make it seamless browser extensions yes the sources

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mentioned those two yes like browser add-ons yeah they often recommend things

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like one called privacy redirect the idea is simple you install this little

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add-on in your browser okay and then if you click a regular YouTube link

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anywhere say in an email and social media whatever or if a website has a

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YouTube video embedded the extension can automatically send you to an invidious

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instance instead of the main YouTube site oh clever so it routes you to the

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alternative automatically pretty much it helps you kind of default to using

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invidious without having to consciously think about it every single time that's

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a neat way to integrate it okay so we've covered the what the why the how to

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start you touched on this briefly but that technical point about API's does

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not use official YouTube API's can you elaborate just a bit on why that's

8:29

important yeah it's actually pretty crucial to how invidious works API's

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application programming interfaces are basically the official approved ways

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that companies let other software talk to their services like an official

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handshake kind of yeah the documented supported way to request data or embed

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things invidious the sources say specifically doesn't use these official

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YouTube API's so it's going around the official channels in a sense it has to

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figure out other ways to access the video streams and the information about

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them this is how it can do things like well avoid delivering the ads that the

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official API might enforce or handle user data differently because it's not

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playing by YouTube's official rule set for developers exactly it gives it

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independence but it also means it's potentially a more complex path

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sometimes things might break if YouTube changes how things work unofficially but

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it's fundamental to offering that different more private ad free experience

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so it's a deliberate choice to trade off to gain that independence and offer those

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features precisely and as we said it's truly open source the license is the

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AGPL 3.0 that's a copyleft license which often encourages sharing improvements

9:41

back with the community and you mentioned contributors before yeah the

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sources listed I think 348 contributors that's a lot of people involved it

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really shows it's a community effort that's impressive a global community

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building this thing it is but with that kind of decentralized community thing

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there are some important caveats warnings almost especially about

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liability ah okay what do the sources say there they're very clear there's a

10:06

statement saying the project creators take no responsibility for the use of

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our tool or external instances provided by third parties meaning just because

10:15

the code is out there they don't control every single server or someone sets up

10:19

using it exactly anyone can host an instance so they can't guarantee how

10:23

reliable or trustworthy every single public server is right use public

10:28

instances with awareness and they also strongly recommend you abide by the

10:33

valid official regulations in your country they explicitly refuse liability

10:39

for any inappropriate use and they mentioned illegal downloading as an

10:43

example so the tool is there to watch videos available on YouTube but it's on

10:47

you the user to make sure you're using it legally and responsibly where you live

10:51

spot-on the responsibility lies with the user they say it's provided in the

10:56

spirit of free open software think freedom to use study modify not freedom

11:02

to break laws that's a crucial distinction okay so let's try and pull

11:06

this all together for you the listener yeah let's recap we've looked at

11:09

Nvidia's it's this alternative way an alternative front-end for YouTube right

11:13

same videos different interface and its big selling points seem to be

11:18

prioritizing your privacy cutting out the tracking as much as possible

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getting rid of those disruptive ads and offering an experience that's designed

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to be maybe calmer less distracting more focused yeah lightweight

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customizable ethically designed plus it's open source built by a community

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and lets you manage your subscriptions and playlists without needing a Google

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account giving you that independence so understanding what Nvidia's is tells you

11:45

something important doesn't it it shows there are alternatives out there even

11:48

for massive platforms absolutely it shows that different choices exist built

11:53

on different values privacy user control no ads it gives you options for how you

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engage with online video and manage your sort of digital life which does raise a

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question maybe for you to think about what does it actually mean for you that

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these kinds of alternatives can exist alongside the Giants yeah what does that

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possibility signify it definitely makes you pause right right if communities

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can build tools like this focusing on privacy and user control instead of say

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maximizing engagement time or data capture what does that tell us about the

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trade-offs we usually just accept on the standard platforms and maybe more

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personally how much value do you put on having that choice that control in your

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own online experience it's definitely something to mull over indeed well that

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brings us to the end of this particular deep dive into invidious thanks so much

12:43

for joining us to explore this yeah hope it was useful and remember this deep

12:47

dive was supported by safe server if you're looking for hosting maybe for

12:51

your own projects or need support with digital transformation check them out at

12:55

www.safeserver.de that's s-a-s-e-r-v-e-r.de right and as the invidious project

13:03

shows if you are

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interested in learning more there's plenty of documentation out there and

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that list of public instances is waiting if you want to give it a spin yourself

13:11

forward to digging into more fascinating information with you next time on the

13:11

forward to digging into more fascinating information with you next time on the