YouTube5 Safari Extension

micky

This extension removes the need to use flash on YouTube by converting all videos to their HTML5 video tag equivalents. It also has the added benefits of decreased CPU usage compared to Flash, and the removal of in-video ads.

Download ››

anon-e-mouse

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blueshead

sweetness.. free lapdance..

The F Word

What base said!

chris

man, i'm ure i'd tried something like this a few months back, and then it had stopped working (i probably updated safari, or something). was it maybe an option in the youtube account settings?

but aye, cool mon.

chris

ok, it may have been an earlier safari extension, or it may have been something like this http://www.youtube.com/html5 to which i was referring.

micky

Version 2 is now out

YouTube5 has become far more popular than I ever imagined it would! I’d like to say a general thank you to everyone who has commented to make suggestions or just express appreciation for this extension, its a great encouragement to know it has been useful to so many people.

Several months ago I had hinted that I was in the process of developing a new version of this extension, and I’m excited to announce that it is finally ready! This version is an almost complete rewrite, and includes many improvements over the first, including:

• A custom designed HTML5 player to replace the usable, but very limited built-in player.
• Support for Vimeo and Facebook video.
• The ability to switch video resolutions within the player, without having to access Safari’s preferences.
• Support for downloading videos from YouTube and Facebook.
• A fully functional volume control, rather than just a mute button.
• Support for displaying the video’s title, author, and source, in a video overlay, along with a link back to the video’s page on YouTube, Vimeo, etc.

You can see the new player in all its glory below:



And with the new overlay activated:



To download a video to your computer, right click on any of the format names and click “Download linked file”. Unfortunately, this only works on YouTube and Facebook, Vimeo is a bit smarter about blocking downloads, so you’ll simply get an “Access denied” error.

This version also uses a different method for replacing flash videos with their HTML5 equivalent, which is much more reliable and also works on dynamically loaded videos, such as videos posted to a Facebook profile.

The extension should update automatically to the new version. New users can download YouTube5 here.

F.A.Q.

Q: What videos will work with flash completely disabled/uninstalled?
A: At present, only videos on www.youtube.com and simple embedded videos will play if you do not have flash. This is because many websites (including Facebook) detect whether you have flash available before they even attempt to display the video. This makes it impossible for YouTube5 to intercept the video and replace it. I hope to find a solution to this issue, but for the now you will need to have flash installed for these videos to work.

Q: Why is there no 480p resolution option for YouTube?
A: The 480p resolution is encoded with flash, not H.264. For the HTML5 video player to play these videos, you would need to have a special codec installed for Quicktime.