Frequently asked questions

No. Google publishes YouTube Music as a web app and as mobile apps only. YouTube Music Desktop App is an unofficial, open-source Electron client that wraps the same web interface and adds features around it — ad blocking, downloads, lyrics, global hotkeys and a plugin system.

Yes, completely. It is released under the MIT licence, the source is public on GitHub, and there is no paid tier, account or telemetry to opt out of.

The code is public and every release is built from it in the open. Download only from the official GitHub releases page, and verify the checksum published with each release if you want certainty. Windows SmartScreen and macOS Gatekeeper both warn about the builds because they are not commercially signed or notarised — that is a cost issue, not a sign of malware.

No. The app works with a free account or anonymously. Premium still buys you official offline downloads, background play on mobile and higher-quality streams — the app does not replace those.

It removes audio and video ads in the vast majority of cases, and it is enabled by default. YouTube changes ad delivery periodically, so if ads reappear, update the app and switch the blocking backend in the plugin options. The Ad Speedup plugin handles anything that still gets through.

Yes, with the Downloader plugin. It saves single tracks, albums or whole playlists as MP3, Opus, M4A, WAV or FLAC with tags and cover art. Respect copyright and YouTube’s Terms of Service when deciding what to save.

Windows 10 and 11 (x64, ia32, arm64), macOS on Apple Silicon and Intel, and Linux as AppImage, deb, rpm and an AUR package.

Yes, once the Shortcuts plugin is enabled. It registers global hotkeys with the operating system, so play/pause, next and previous work while the app is minimised. On Linux it also enables MPRIS for desktop media widgets and playerctl.

Forty-three at the time of writing, covering ad blocking, downloads, lyrics, audio processing, appearance, video handling and integrations with Discord, Last.fm, ListenBrainz, OBS and Lumia Stream. Every one is a single toggle in the Plugins menu.

The app itself does not run analytics on your listening. It talks to YouTube Music the same way a browser does, and the Ad Blocker plugin additionally blocks tracking requests. This website uses Google Analytics to measure page traffic — that is the site, not the app.

Windows installer builds update themselves. Homebrew, Scoop, Winget and the AUR package update with your normal package-manager upgrade. AppImage and portable builds are replaced by downloading the new file.

Gatekeeper quarantines apps that are not notarised by Apple. Run /usr/bin/xattr -cr /Applications/YouTube\ Music.app in Terminal once and the app opens normally.

Switch to song mode with the Video Toggle plugin, turn off Visualizer, Ambient Mode and blur effects, and enable the Performance improvement plugin. Not decoding video is by far the biggest saving.

No. It is an independent open-source project and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Google, YouTube or Alphabet. YouTube and YouTube Music are trademarks of Google LLC.