Merlin
h264ify

h264ify

Makes YouTube stream H.264 videos instead of VP8/VP9 videos

  • h264ify
  • h264ify
What is h264ify?
"h264ify" is a Firefox extension specifically designed for improving your YouTube video watching experience. By default, YouTube uses VP8/VP9 encoding for its videos, which can put undue stress on less potent machines leading to stuttering videos and high CPU usage. The h264ify add-on intervenes to make YouTube stream H.264 encoded videos, a format more often hardware-accelerated by GPUs, thereby enabling smooth playback and lower CPU usage.
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Merlin
Stats
Rating: 4.42 (203)
Version: 1.1.0 (Last updated: 2019-09-09)
Creation date: 2015-02-17
Weekly download count: 838
Firefox on Android: Yes
Risk impact: High risk impact
Risk likelihood: Low risk likelihood
Manifest version: 2
Permissions:
  • storage
Size: 35.79K
URLs: Website
Stats date:

Chrome-Stats Rank

# 443 ▲ 1
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Other platforms

h264ify
h264ify (v1.1.0)
4.56 (1,128) 1,000,000
h264ify
h264ify (v1.1.0)
4.80 (24) 141,569
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Chrome-Stats extension
Merlin
Summary
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Try h264ify if YouTube videos stutter, take up too much CPU, eat battery life, or make your laptop hot.

By default, YouTube streams VP8/VP9 encoded video. However, this can cause problems with less powerful machines because VP8/VP9 is not typically hardware accelerated.

In contrast, H.264 is commonly hardware accelerated by GPUs, which usually means smoother video playback and reduced CPU usage. h264ify makes YouTube stream H.264 videos instead of VP8/VP9 videos.

Github: https://github.com/erkserkserks/h264ify

User reviews
User reviews summary
These summaries are automatically generated weekly using AI based on recent user reviews. Firefox Browser Add-ons does not verify user reviews, so some user reviews may be inaccurate, spammy, or outdated.
Pros
  • Improves laptop cooling
  • Fixes pale videos in full screen
  • Fixes choppy and slow loading YouTube videos
  • Smooth video streaming
Cons
  • Blocks AV1 playback
  • May not work in some instances
  • Causes YouTube to not play videos above 1080p
Most mentioned
  • Smooth video streaming
  • Blocks AV1 playback
  • Causes YouTube to not play videos above 1080p
Recent reviews
Great improvement, in terms of keeping my laptop much cooler. Great extension. 👍
by Lord Fong, 2024-05-13
Finally videos don't get pale in full screen. Thanks you!
by Anton, 2024-05-11
by ozkan, 2024-05-01
View all user reviews
Safety
Risk impact

h264ify is risky to use as it requires a number of sensitive permissions that can potentially harm your browser and steal your data. Exercise caution when installing this add-on. Review carefully before installing. We recommend that you only install h264ify if you trust the publisher.

Risk likelihood

h264ify has earned a fairly good reputation and likely can be trusted.

Upgrade to see risk analysis details