If you want to try something different and play videos from YouTube using VLC Media Player then there is a built-in support in the application itself that allows you to do so. You can use the Media > Open Network Stream feature and enter the video URL to play it. You just enter a YouTube address like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfndS5SKUs4 and it will stream and play the video for you. It also supports many other video sharing websites.
Here are the steps to play YouTube Videos in VLC Media Player:
- Click on Media > Open Network Stream… [CTRL + N]
- Enter the direct YouTube URL to the video.
- Hit Play.
The video will begin to stream and play immediately. You can even choose the quality of the media and also use all the controls and features of VLC Media Player like speeding it up or slowing it down. It is a great way to watch YouTube videos in high speed like 1.2x so that you save some time. The YouTube website and app doesn’t have this feature.
To choose the quality of the video that is fetched:
- Go to Tools > Preferences.
- Switch to All settings.
- Click on Input/Codecs.
- Choose an option next to Preferred video resolution.
- Press Save.
The available options are Best available, Full HD (1080p), HD (720p), Standard Definition (576 or 480 lines), Low Definition (360 lines) and Very Low Definition (240 lines). You can find the video resolution and other media information by hitting CTRL + J or from Tools > Media information.
Additional Options
There are a few options that you can set before streaming and you can also choose what happens after the video streams. To access the streaming options check the show more options checkbox. You will find these options:
- Caching: Change how much of the video is cached and loaded before playing begins. The default value is 1000 ms (1 second). You can change it to a higher number if the player stops at multiple intervals but you might have to wait in the beginning.
- Start Time: Choose a point in the video from where it begins playing. It is useful to avoid the unnecessary parts.
- Play another media synchronously (extra audio file, …)
Extra Media: Activate the checkbox and you can add another audio or video file to play along with the YouTube video. It is an interesting feature useful for mashups.
Besides the Play button, you can also see a small down-facing arrow. It reveals additional things you can do with the media.
- Enqueue: Add it to your playlist.
- Stream: Stream it to a file. It contains advanced streaming features which are not for everyone.
- Convert: Convert video formats using VLC.
VLC For Android
In the app version of this wonderful software, you will find the stream option in the hamburger menu (three lines on the top-left). Tap on it and hit Stream. Paste the address to your YouTube video in the Enter network address input box and give it a few moments to load up the video instantly in your app.
It doesn’t work! Same error every time to open the stream.
HTTP 429 Error probably due to IP address being blacklisted as a public one… but Browser does NOT have this problem. So watch out for useragent filtering by Youtube.
VLC didnt play it for years now, since 3.0.xxxwhatever.xx. Long years old YT video about how to fix that, didnt work. Mine older 3.0 version show it cant open the stream (check for log, log empty). Update it to recent 3.0.18 – and now it just erase playlist back to empty instead of play. Not even load thumb preview image.
Android version keep crashing the whole player trying to play YT. Again, same issue – for years, on differ Android and device versions.
Such old YT solution videos have links to some custom lua files supposed to be in test versions and then in release. It was long ago, few versions of VLC-release roll out. Never really fixed. Whata that? What the wrong with VLC?
(Win10, Win7 and differ Android)
Hi. It’s just working fine on VLC for Linux. Is there a way to play youtube on VLC for Android?
I do not think so.
yes there is if you go on the more section on the bottom right and then click ‘new stream’ then enter the youtube link and it should work.
linux is great
It only shows a fixed image of the initial youtube video.
Mac mini m1
Why doesn’t it play the video, it doesn’t give correct playback time either. It only shows the title and as play time 00:00
Hi everyone, I currently have the same issue, I’m not able to basically stream as I wish, I don’t know if any answer is here. I thank you for any update,
I have everything updated (April 2021)
How about watching livestream while it’s happening?
Don’t work anymore in android, please check
wow, thank i really needed this
Based on the previous answer I found a solution that works as of now on the latest VLC x64 3.0.11.
You need the latest version of thr “youtube” script from here:
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/videolan/vlc/master/share/lua/playlist/youtube.lua
and the latest patched versoion on the original script
https://gist.github.com/seraku24/db42e0e418b2252f2136d2d7f1656be5
The details view in the playlist brakes though.
How does one install the scripts?
Is there a way to sign in with YouTube so “Age Restricted” videos can be run through VLC? I recently learned that it’s possible to download YT videos with VLC but one of the videos I want to save is age restricted and so everything I’ve tried will kick you out before it can play or download…
The steps are similar but using the above mentioned LUA file does work when placed in the proper folder.
Download file and copy/paste it into:
Applications > (right-click/control+click) VLC > Show Package Contents > MacOS > share > lua > playlist
To anyone still having trouble getting YouTube videos to play!!!!!! Download this and follow the instructions for installing it: https://addons.videolan.org/p/1154080/ then if it doesn’t work after that, follow these instructions:
Troubleshooting:
/! Follow this steps if and only if you have already install the script and it doesn’t work..
/! for the actual script see the “download” button (playlist_youtube.lua) below.
If the videos list appears in the Vlc “playlist” view but the videos won’t start, follow this steps:
1) delete the file “youtube.luac” in [vlc directory]/lua/playlist directory (ex: c:Program FilesVideoLANVLCluaplaylistyoutube.luac)
2) get the latest version of thr “youtube” script from here:
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/videolan/vlc/master/share/lua/playlist/youtube.lua
3) place the file in the directory [vlc directory]/lua/playlist (where “youtube.luac” was)
After I did this, it worked PERFECTLY! 🙂 Hope this helps!
Yes, it works. Can I also do this on Android Phone? If I paste url in android (stream) it will not play.
Thanks this works for me but the video quality is low
Do you know how to fix it?
* already did the quality steps that mentioned on the main post
What I now do, I use an add-on for Firefox that downloads the utube clip, then save it. And then play it in VLC. This works for me.
The VLC 3.0.8 Vetinari UI on Mac OSX looks very different. Are there directions how to play youtube videos for Mac ?
On 13 January 2020 YouTube said “We’ll stop supporting this browser soon. For the best experience please upgrade your browser” on Pale Moon 26.5 on Windows XP. However, just 1-2 days later that disappeared, so I guess they postponed it.
The same day (13 Jan) I tried opening a YT videostream via VLC for the first time, and it worked! At 720p too. But only for 2-3 days, or possibly only those two videos I was watching (they were very long (sport events)). And that was on VLC version 2.2.6.
On 3 February they put up a message on Firefox that their old website version, which I’m still using as I never upgraded and constantly switched to the old thing when they introduced the script hell, will be removed soon: “This YouTube version will be gone soon. Switch to new YouTube”. That same website version is the default and as far as I know only thing that works on Pale Moon 26.5.
As of 5 February it is no longer possible to play videos on YouTube in Pale Moon 26.5 on Windows XP. I assume that they’ve removed the VP8 videos, which were the only ones working in that environment. YT also again gives me the message “We’ll stop supporting this browser soon. For the best experience please update your browser.”
It seems YouTube are making some major changes.
Regarding VLC I think the resolution option should be directly under the Network tab in the Open Media window, and not tucked away in the advanced settings. If this feature survives…
none of this works for my VLC, – drag & drop or stream. Is there any other way to play utude in VLC other than the above?
Yes, right now the feature seems to be not working as of VLC 3.0.8. We will have to use an extension like this one- Youtube playlist.
How fantastically fabulous. Is there anything else that’s not working? I mean, is this rocket science or something?
We could the YouTube player plugins for VLC a try.
Same issue. YouTube has done something to glitch this. Ugh. I am on the latest version of VLC
Until Jan. 10 I could play YouTube video in VLC 3.0.8 like described her, now it only blinks and then stops!?
May be an update will fix it for you.
Newest version (3.0.8), doesn’t work. Even after clean install and erase of previous preference settings.
VLC 3.0.8 Vetinari should be the newest version of VLC! Are there any other new updates that I should know about? Klaus
Any ideas when this will be fixed ?
When i had this problem i just downloaded the youtube.lua extension for vlc from the vlc webpage and had to set a default resolution in “input/codecs” in settings after that and then it stops disapearing and everything works fine again.
Might be that they don’t support it out of the box anymore or something but with the extensions and the resolution max set it will work.
How come there’s nothing on VLC for Mac? The interface is considerable different (there’s no play button on the stream box, only “open” which doesn’t play the video). So please, if you’re going to offer a Mac version then it would be great to include Mac instructions. Thanks
Yes, I agree that VLC for Mac is really different.
When I put the URL in Network, the program disappears completely. What did I do wrong?
Is the URL correct?
It worked several months ago, now YouTube stops the stream in VLC. Maybe part of their new Anti download policy in their T&Cs
unfortunately 720p is maximum for this method.
there is 1080p in my vlc
Beautiful concept, but “Your input can’t be opened:” for music that played fine in browser[s].
I found out, that some video types are not playable. But, it works on some videos. 🙂
Me too. Im using Win 7/ Latest VLC (I dont know which version). I can only play playlist. Is this just a glitch?
Start Time option doesn’t work for me on WIn 7 / VLC 3.0.6
Me either. I am actually trying to figure out a way to add start and end times to each individual video in a YouTube playlist, which doesn’t seem possible, but even for a single video I can’t get the start time parameter to work.
HI,
feature ‘Start Time’ for YT video doesn’t work for me.
I have VLC 3.0.6.