CodecButler EN

CodecButler chooses which video codec YouTube serves you, based on what your hardware can actually decode.

AV1 without hardware decode runs on the CPU: higher CPU load, more heat, shorter battery life. CodecButler hides such codecs from YouTube's player, so YouTube picks a format your hardware handles. A Mac with no AV1 hardware decoder, for example, gets VP9 instead.

Modes
- Auto (by hardware): detects what your device decodes in hardware and blocks only the codecs that would fall back to software decoding.
- Manual: blocks exactly the codecs you tick (H.264, VP8, VP9, AV1, Opus, AAC).
- Off: blocks nothing.
You can also block 60 fps formats to keep YouTube on 30 fps streams (Auto and Manual mode).

Hardware detection
Detection uses two browser signals, WebCodecs and MediaCapabilities, tested at 4K 60 fps for AV1, VP9, VP9 Profile 2 (HDR) and H.264. A codec is reported as hardware or software only when both signals agree; otherwise it is Unknown and is not blocked. Browser APIs do not guarantee hardware decode, so the result is a presumption. You can override any codec yourself.

Checking your result
- Check current video: the toolbar popup shows the codec, resolution, dropped frames and a verdict for the YouTube video you are watching.
- Verify manually: built-in steps using YouTube's Stats for nerds, edge://media-internals and edge://gpu to confirm which decoder is really used.

Privacy
Works only on youtube.com and youtube-nocookie.com. Your settings stay on your device. No network requests, no analytics, no accounts, no remote code. The privacy policy is linked from this listing.

The interface is available in English and Traditional Chinese.

Not affiliated with or endorsed by YouTube or Google.