Invidious is an open source alternative front-end to YouTube written in Crystal and distributed under the AGPLv3 license. The project provides users with a lightweight way to watch YouTube videos without ads, tracking, or JavaScript requirements. The application is designed to prioritize privacy and user control, offering features like light and dark themes, customizable homepages, and subscriptions that are independent from Google accounts.
The platform includes comprehensive user-facing features that distinguish it from YouTube's official interface. Users can enable audio-only mode with background play support on mobile devices, access Reddit comments on videos, and receive notifications for all subscribed channels. The interface is available in many languages through community translations managed via Weblate. Invidious supports data portability through import and export functionality, allowing users to import subscriptions from YouTube, NewPipe, and FreeTube, as well as import watch history from YouTube and NewPipe. Users can export their subscriptions to NewPipe and FreeTube formats or perform complete import and export of their Invidious user data.
From a technical perspective, Invidious operates without relying on official YouTube APIs, instead implementing its own approach to accessing video content. The project provides embedded video support and exposes a developer API documented at docs.invidious.io/api/. The codebase notably does not require contributors to sign a Contributor License Agreement, lowering barriers to participation.
The project operates as a distributed ecosystem with multiple public instances available through instances.invidious.io, allowing users to select their preferred hosting provider. The documentation is comprehensive and maintained in a separate repository at iv-org/documentation. Browser extensions like Privacy Redirect are recommended to automatically redirect YouTube URLs to Invidious instances and replace embedded YouTube videos on other websites.
Community engagement is facilitated through multiple channels including Matrix chat, IRC on Libera.chat, Fediverse presence at social.tchncs.de, and email contact. The project actively participates in Hacktoberfest and maintains an active development cycle with regular commits and pull request activity. Contributions are welcomed through standard GitHub workflows for code changes and through Weblate for translation work, with account creation optional but recommended for regular contributors.
