videothumb2mpv

What is it?

A browser userscript that will allow you to open videos in external player mpv by simply clicking on a thumbnail.

How it works?

It simply replaces video thumbnail hyperlinks on a page, changing their protocol from https:// to mpv://.

Supported sites

YouTube

Prerequisites

Any modern web browser that supports extensions
mpv media player
yt-dlp
Userscript manager, such as Violentmonkey, Greasemonkey or Tampermonkey

Installation

Clone this repository
Create a script in your browser userscript manager and paste contents of userscript.js from this repository
Make sure the userscript is enabled
Install mpv. make sure the mpv url handler was also registered with the system (this happens automatically on macos)

Limitations

Cookies are not passed in any way, hence private vidoes (subscriber only) won't play

Known bugs

Video urls are not updated on the page unless the url in the address bar changes. for example if you are choosing different categories using the buttons (chips) at the top of the main youtube page.

Notes

Tested and confirmed working in the following setups:

GNU/Linux with Xorg, Mozilla Firefox, Violentmonkey
Windows 32-bit, Chrome, Tampermonkey
Windows 64-bit, Firefox, Violentmonkey
Macos, any browser that supports extensions/userscripts

dlnetworks/videothumb2mpv