This unofficial open source YouTube Music app gives you the best experience
Google's video hosting and streaming service YouTube offers one of the largest selections of music videos and playlists on the planet. You can listen to the music for free, if you do not mind ads or have found a way to get around them, or pay Google to get an ad-free experience and some extra features.
YouTube Music Desktop App is an unofficial cross-platform application for YouTube Music. It is open source, runs on Mac, Linux, and Windows devices, and has a few aces up its sleeve that make it the better experience.
When you run the app for the first time, you are greeted by a clean interface that resembles Google's YouTube website.
The entry points are listed on the left, while the middle and right is reserved for browsing the vast music catalog, searching, listening, and interactions. You do not need to sign in to use the service, but you could, if you wanted to.
The frontpage lists plenty of options: from an 80s rock ballads kick over the megahits of the 90s to specific albums or special playlists for every mood.
So, click on a music title or playlist, and playback starts immediately. One thing that you may notice is that there are not any ads. The reason for that is that the application comes with an integrated content blocker that is part of the application's plugin system.
Talking about plugins, the app supports a large list of plugins that provide you with new features or improvements.
Here are some of the highlights:
- Downloader to download Mp3 files using youtube-dl.
- Equalizer for that extra bit of bass.
- Age restrictions bypasser.
- Skip silences or disliked songs.
- Sponsorblock integration.
- Remove all Google login prompts, buttons and links.
And much more. Note that you need to enable most of the plugins before they become available. This requires a restart of the application.
Further customization options are displayed in the options menu. Here you can change the language, configure auto-start behavior, or enable visual tweaks. The program is configured to update automatically, resume the last song when the app starts, and block any attempts to start another instance of it.
Verdict
The unofficial YouTube Music Desktop App has been around for quite some time. Its first version dates back to April 2019 and plenty of updates have been released since. The app is easy to use, and the one thing that you may dislike about it is that it is Electron-based.
Still, with all the plugins installed already, it offers one of the cleanest experience when it comes to YouTube Music.
Terrible, without an account it´s useless and if you have one … stick to the original.
I´m sticking with Harmony Music
https://github.com/anandnet/Harmony-Music.
@ pHROgHO said on April 15, 2025 at 1:53 pm:
Yes, I know where the original youtube-dl program is… did you notice the latest release date for “youtube-dl?”
2021.12.17
Youtube-dl shouldn’t be used [if it is]. YT-DLP should be used, the links have been posted.
I really shouldn’t have to post about this, anyone with a brain and eyes can see both projects and can tell which is dead and which is active. You’re welcome.
Youtube Music 3.8.0 runs well with Lively Wallpaper under Windows 11 Home (x64) Version 24H2 (build 26100.3775).
This is probably as close as to an official app we can get but I prefer cross-platform Spotube app.
How long before that gets zapped by the mighty Google. Invidious has gone down the tubes again so I can’t use it anymore to watch youtube videos and (note to Bobo) to run Freetube a minimum Windows 10 is required. I’m still happily running Windows 8.1
Same goes for Materialious which I had high hopes for as an alternative to Invidious, but Electron (the outfit which provides the open source framework on which Materialious is built) has pulled for support for any Windows OS below Windows 10.
My world is rapidly shrinking…. :(
FreeTube runs perfect on Win7 with VxKex.
“Downloader to download Mp3 files using youtube-dl.”
Are you sure? Don’t you mean ‘yt-dlp?’
see https://old.reddit.com/r/youtubedl — for discussions and
see https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp — for yt-dlp official site
https://ytdl-org.github.io/youtube-dl/download.html
Used it before but as I recall you can’t Cast to a stereo?
Nope. FreeTube wins this battle, easily.
For you!
Thanks for the Alternative, Martin.