YouTube Shorts UI Switch — Elliot

Do you hate the YouTube Shorts desktop UI? Well so do I!

With this extension, every video that loads with the new Shorts player will get immediately switched for the standard YouTube video player.

Some Advantages

• Familiar video player UI
• Standard speed and quality controls
• No overlay buttons or clutter
• No endless doomscrolling feed
• Uhhh I just hate YouTube Shorts

Simple Mode

This mode detects when a new YouTube Shorts link is opened, and the URL is switched to use the standard video player before the page ever loads.

This is the fastest and simplest method. However, it doesn't work when a Short is loaded in the active tab (only when opened in a new tab or on page refresh).

Advanced Mode

This mode runs a small background process (while on YouTube) that checks for URL changes. When a change is detected, if the URL matches that of a YouTube Short, the URL is switched to use the standard video player.

This method is slower, requiring the page to fully load before the UI is switched. However, it works on active-tab clicks without requiring a page refresh.

Is the extension safe to install?

Yes! The extension operates only when YouTube is open, and looks at nothing more than the YouTube URL and video ID.
* No data is collected
* Everything was built to be as simple and lightweight as possible
* The code is very basic - feel free to review it on GitHub if you'd like!