The best, by far, is NewPipe but it only works on Android.
<http://newpipe.net>

There's a recent thread on the Android newsgroup about using NewPipe
<https://tinyurl.com/nova-comp-mobile-android>
where it broke for two days because Google implemented anti-bot preventive
measures two days ago, and the NewPipe team fixed it such that YouTube is
again free without any Google-inserted ads.
<https://www.novabbs.com/computers/article-flat.php?id=54079&group=comp.mobile.android#54079>

Yes, I know this is a Windows group, but all these screeenshots were taken
on Windows because Android sound/video mirrors on Windows over the Wi-Fi.
<https://i.postimg.cc/mZqkGcKr/newpipe-error01.jpg>
<https://i.postimg.cc/P5JSvR2y/newpipe-error02.jpg>
<https://i.postimg.cc/7Z4TpGT2/newpipe-error03.jpg>
<https://i.postimg.cc/fR1cHQr7/newpipe-error04.jpg>
<https://i.postimg.cc/1RKKyT8P/newpipe-error05.jpg>

I repeat because it's so misunderstood. Android === Windows.
1. Your Android phone displays on Windows almost two feet tall
2. Your Windows keyboard, mouse & clipboard work on Android
3. All this Android mirroring is done either over Wi-Fi or over USB
4. The Android sound is using your Windows speakers too
5. And, of course, Android mounts as a drive letter on Windows
6. And certainly it's all free using well-known FOSS tools

Android is Windows so much that your Android device is managed from
Windows, whether that's installing or deleting apps, or changing settings,
or reading your email or sending/receiving text messages, and whatever.

Including playing and recording videos.

Moving on to Windows-specific programs, the archives will show we've
discussed this exact topic probably a billion times, so look here first:
<https://tinyurl.com/nova-alt-comp-os-windows-10>

But, without looking myself, these are on my Windows 10 system today:
<https://clipgrab.org/>
<https://download.clipgrab.org/clipgrab-3.9.7-portable.exe>

<https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/>
<https://yt-dl.org/latest/youtube-dl.exe>

<https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest>
<https://ffmpeg.org/download.html>

<https://www.3dyd.com/>
<https://yd.3dyd.com/download/>

Note that you should never see ads on any platform, ever.
And you should never need to pay for any software either, ever.

You just have to be smart about it, that's all.
Good luck.

Andrew wrote on Fri, 12 Jul 2024 22:06:11 -0000 (UTC) :

> The best, by far, is NewPipe but it only works on Android.
> <http://newpipe.net>

To flesh out how fantastic the FOSS YouTube-without-ads truly is...

What NewPipe gives you is privacy from YouTube tracking on Windows.
All using the Windows display, mouse, keyboard, clipboard & speakers.

You can size the Windows NewPipe video display to a full screen.
<https://i.postimg.cc/x8KJJjh1/windowsnewpipe01.jpg> size the video player

There's no need to create a Google login - even to subscribe.
<https://i.postimg.cc/Qdj575XG/windowsnewpipe03.jpg> no new account needed

And, best of all, you control the entire Android phone from Windows.
<https://i.postimg.cc/3Rzm0cwn/windowsnewpipe02.jpg> control the phone

Certainly you can download videos and rip music and share videos,
all without ever seeing a Google-inserted advertisement in the video.

Works over Wi-Fi & USB using FOSS tools which are always free & ad free.
<https://newpipe.net>