YouTube Center 2.1.7 (Discontinued)

YouTube Center 2.1.7 was a free browser extension and user script that added a long list of options to YouTube: default video quality, player size, auto-play control, repeat, and the ability to download videos. The project was discontinued on August 30, 2018 and has not been updated since. Its code and history remain available on GitHub for reference, but there is little point in trying to download YouTube Center for use today.

Overview

In its day, YouTube Center was a favourite of people who wanted YouTube to behave their way. It could force a preferred resolution instead of the automatic one, stop videos from starting on their own, resize the player, hide annotations and comments, and add buttons for saving videos. It ran as an extension in browsers such as Firefox and Chrome, and as a user script for script managers. All of that relied on the structure of YouTube's pages at the time. YouTube has redesigned its site and player many times since then, and browsers have changed how extensions work. A tool that modifies a website stops working the moment that website changes, unless someone keeps updating it. With development over, YouTube Center no longer matches the current YouTube, and old versions from unofficial sources can be a security risk because extensions have access to the pages you visit.

Where the project lives now

The source code and documentation are archived in the YouTube Center repository on GitHub, including the changelog of its releases. This is useful for developers studying how such extensions were built, not as a source of a working tool.

Key facts

A lesson in software maintenance

YouTube Center shows how dependent add-ons are on the sites they modify. Popular extensions stay useful only while someone updates them after every redesign. When you choose an extension today, look at when it was last updated, how many people use it and whether the developer answers bug reports. An abandoned extension with broad permissions is also an attractive target: if someone takes over its listing or its update channel, they can push malicious code to every browser that still has it installed.

What to do today

• Check YouTube's own settings first: quality, auto-play, captions and playback speed can be set directly in the player.
• Install browser extensions only from the official extension stores and review their permissions.
• Remove old or unmaintained extensions from your browser.
• Download videos only where YouTube or the rights holder allows it.

Pros and cons

• Pro: source code archived for study.
• Pro: small and free.
• Con: discontinued, no longer compatible with current YouTube.
• Con: old extension builds can be a security risk.

Alternatives

For saving videos you have the right to keep, our listings include 4K Video Downloader, yt-dlp, JDownloader and ClipGrab. Respect YouTube's terms and copyright when using them.