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ChillTube

Lightweight Chrome extension that offloads YouTube video playback to MPV player using hardware-accelerated H.264.
Ideal for older laptops where VP9/AV1 decoding is not hardware-accelerated.

🔧 Why use this?

Modern YouTube videos use VP9 or AV1, which often lack hardware acceleration on older systems. This leads to:

  • 🔥 High CPU usage
  • 🌪 Loud fans
  • 🔋 Reduced battery life

This extension:

  • 🧊 Keeps your laptop cooler
  • 🔇 Runs quieter
  • 🔋 Improves battery life
  • 🎞 Uses MPV with H.264 fallback (hardware-accelerated)

✅ Features

  • Adds a toolbar button and right-click menu
  • Sends current YouTube video URL to native Python script
  • Plays video in MPV with a format string that prefers H.264
  • Works out-of-the-box on Linux

⚠️ System Requirements

  • ✅ Supported: Linux (x11/Wayland)
  • ❌ macOS: not yet supported (due to app sandbox and MPV launch issues)
  • ❌ Windows: not yet supported

🛠️ Installation

1a. Download the zip archive

from here and extract it locally, or...

1b. Clone this repo

git clone https://github.com/klimanek/ChillTube

2. Load the extension in your browser

  • Go to chrome://extensions/
  • Enable Developer Mode
  • Click Load unpacked and select the extension folder
  • Copy the extension ID

3. Install native messaging host

cd ChillTube
# ChillTube package structure
├── install.sh
├── README.md
├── extension
└── yt_h264.py

Open install.sh in your favorite text editor and insert the copied extension ID:

EXT_ID="xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" # change that

Then run:

sh install.sh

🌍 Localization

Currently supported:

  • 🇬🇧 English
  • 🇨🇿 Czech

Feel free to contribute translations in your language!

📌 Roadmap

  • Add macOS support (via IINA?)
  • Optional in-video button
  • Preferences/config panel
  • Windows support

📜 License

MIT

🔍 Related keywords

YouTube overheat, loud fans, battery drain, MPV player, H.264 fallback, yt-dlp helper, external player for YouTube, Chromium extension, older laptops, fanless playback, AV1 problem, VP9 decoding issues