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kekneus373/use-youtube-on-ancient-machines-with-linux.md

Created January 1, 2026 09:46
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Play YouTube on Ancient PCs w/o Drivers
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use-youtube-on-ancient-machines-with-linux.md

Play Modern YouTube Videos on Ancient PCs w/o Good Driver Support

  1. Open the Terminal

  2. Install mpv

  3. Get yt-dlp

VIDEO

  1. To find the required video format run:
yt-dlp --list-formats https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=<video_id>
  1. Look for: [ID] webm 640x322 30 │ 2.75MiB 180k dash │ vp9 180k video only 360p, webm_dash

640x360 Video ID is usually 243

  1. Then open the video stream:
mpv https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=<video_id> --ytdl-format=<ytdlp_id>
  1. Pause the playback using p, go with arrow keys to the beginning

AUDIO

  1. To find the required audio format run:
yt-dlp --list-formats https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=[VID]
  1. Look for: [ID] webm audio only 2 │ 2.27MiB 149k dash │ audio only opus 149k 48k medium, webm_dash

Audio ID is usually 251

  1. Then open the audio stream:
mpv https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=<video_id> --ytdl-format=<ytdlp_id>

  1. Pause the playback using p, go with arrow keys to the beginning (right in the terminal!)

  2. Put your cursor onto the play button in the MPV window

  3. Switch to the terminal window without moving the cursor Alt + Tab

  4. Press p and play button under your cursor simultaneously

Enjoy almost smooth video playback on your old device!

Tested on VIA C7.

Last updated: 06/29/2023

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