YouTube-Enhancer
[Feature Request] Default to the Original Audio Language
Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
YouTube seems to be rolling out a feature called "auto dubbed" where they AI-Voice Over the entire video without asking for preference. From a short google search it appears while creators can enable and disable it users have no such choice.
You can then go and select the original audio track, but it uses some form of default from a random/unknown setting (interface/browser/your guess language). There is no setting for this in the YouTube settings as far as i can tell/find.
Describe the solution you'd like
When playing back a YouTube video the default/original audio track should be preferred. Make it a option instead of an annoyance. Like subtitles where it's usually a provided one, if any, else auto-generated to your (i guess) interface language. But those too are off by default (and have a option in settings) and you can still activate them on a running video if need be.
Maybe a option to select your preferred language would be ideal. Or a priority system.
Similar, but different context, would be the option to disable all auto translation features, i.e. mainly titles. Or set a preferred/priority based subtitle language (see explanation below). Will never understand why YouTube gives those options to creators and not those viewing the videos.
Describe alternatives you've considered
If taken into consideration, multi-language videos, with manually added tracks by the creator, might or might not appear as "original" as well. If they do it might be insufficient to always default to that.
Priority vs Preferred Example Option Quick idea would be a priority setting, e.g. "German > English". If there is a original German track it will always be preferred. If there is a original English but not German the English will be preferred. If there are two original tracks use German given the example setting. Or simpler, a list of preferred languages. Since i understand both German and English, as long as its not the ai slob (i.e. its a original/recorded track), i can probably just listen to either.
This was the first video I encountered using this feature, but reports go back two years already. I hope usage stays low like with title translations, but this might also just affect me less as 95% of videos I watch are English, which is also my selected interface/browser/windows language and thus 99% of my recommendations are already in the right original language.
Additional context
While I found threads on reddit from two years ago, maybe rollout starts now more broadly? There is a question with 2000 upvotes about this from January.
Example video
Videos using this feature currently have a badge in recommendations and on the video page itself.
@SayuShira This feature is finished it's available on the dev branch. Here are prebuilt zips if you wish to use them
| File Name | SHA-256 Hash |
|---|---|
| youtube-enhancer-v1.27.0-Chrome.zip | dcaf201cd5bccd620fb19a9b436e8def8401b10dadd9a9114778526fc2f33738 |
| youtube-enhancer-v1.27.0-Edge.zip | dcaf201cd5bccd620fb19a9b436e8def8401b10dadd9a9114778526fc2f33738 |
| youtube-enhancer-v1.27.0-Firefox.zip | 535f2009b377c83c6849a037c55dba087116919f2ac3164d3d80126dd8e2aed7 |
Amazing work! Not just this feature, but all the quality of life the addon provides.. Thank you very much. I'll grab a prebuilt right away ❤
Thanks so much! Glad you're enjoying the addon. If you have any feedback or suggestions, I'd love to hear them! 😊 Have fun with the prebuilt!
@SayuShira I recently noticed while testing features that this feature was broken by a change on YouTube. I've fixed the feature I've uploaded pre-built zips below
| File Name | SHA-256 Hash |
|---|---|
| youtube-enhancer-v1.27.0-Chrome.zip | f927191a814d328fdfe9fcb13f6f908c5d3843852b998180a7492f718624d9d0 |
| youtube-enhancer-v1.27.0-Edge.zip | f927191a814d328fdfe9fcb13f6f908c5d3843852b998180a7492f718624d9d0 |
| youtube-enhancer-v1.27.0-Firefox.zip | 94aff8d28b769fbc9baab80cbe5a60e4f5317e08a2ccb024560d3387bd0e81cf |