YTM Audio-Only

A Chrome extension that plays the audio-only versions of YouTube Music albums — without a premium subscription.

YouTube Music defaults to the music-video version of a song and won't let non-premium users switch to audio-only. But album playlists (OLAK5uy_…) reference the art tracks — the static-image "Provided to YouTube by…" uploads that are the genuine audio-only versions of each song. This extension plays those, as-is, through the official YouTube embedded player in its own tab, so audio keeps going while you browse.

Features

• Play any YouTube Music album or playlist as audio-only in a dedicated player tab.
• Floating ▶ Play now / ＋ Add album / ＋ Add tracks buttons on music.youtube.com album pages. The two ＋ buttons appear once a Data API key is set (see below).
• Line albums up back-to-back: ＋ Add album keeps the current queue playing and starts the next album when it ends. Queued albums can be dragged into a different order or dropped individually.
• Paste an album/playlist URL or id into the toolbar popup.
• Queue with prev / next, play-pause, and a visible track list.
• Keyboard shortcuts on the player tab:
  • Space — play / pause
  • ← / → — previous / next track
  • Shift + ← / → — seek 5s back / forward
• Works with or without a YouTube Data API key (see below).

Install (load-unpacked)

There's no build step.

1. Clone or download this repository.
2. Open chrome://extensions and turn on Developer mode (top right).
3. Click Load unpacked and select the project folder.
4. The YTM Audio-Only icon appears in your toolbar.

Usage

From YouTube Music: open an album or playlist. Floating buttons appear — all three with a Data API key set, otherwise just ▶ Play now:

• ▶ Play now — start this album immediately, replacing whatever was queued.
• ＋ Add album — keep playing what's on now; this album starts when the queue runs out. Albums stack up, and the player's Up next list shows what's waiting.
• ＋ Add tracks — merge this album's tracks onto the end of the current track list.

The difference between the last two: Add tracks blends the album into the current queue, while Add album keeps it whole and separate, to play after.

From the popup: click the toolbar icon, paste an album/playlist URL or id, and hit Play now, Add album, or Add tracks. The latter two show up only with a key set.

In the player tab, the Up next panel lists queued albums. Drag them by the ⠿ grip to reorder, or drop one with ✕ — just like the track list. (The album playing now has already left the panel, so reordering never disturbs it.) Its auto-advance switch, when off, stops the queue at the end of the current album — the Next button and the → key stop there too, instead of rolling into the next album.

Data API key (optional)

The extension works out of the box in a keyless mode: it hands the album playlist straight to the embedded player and lets it play through. There's no visible track list in this mode.

Adding a free YouTube Data API v3 key unlocks the richer experience — a full, navigable track list built from the playlist, album names, and the two queueing buttons:

1. In the Google Cloud Console, enable YouTube Data API v3, then create an API key.
2. Open the extension's Options page (right-click the toolbar icon → Options, or the link in the popup) and paste the key.

If the key is missing, invalid, or its quota is exhausted, playback automatically falls back to the keyless mode.

Note that ＋ Add album and ＋ Add tracks both need a key — building a track list is what makes queueing possible. With no key stored they're hidden entirely, on the album page and in the popup, so there's nothing that looks like it should queue but can't. If a key is stored but gets rejected at request time, they fall back to playing the album right away and the button says "Replaced" to make that clear.

Privacy: your API key is stored locally in your browser (chrome.storage.local) and is only ever sent to Google's YouTube Data API to look up playlist tracks. The extension has no server, no telemetry, and no analytics.

How it works & scope

• Playback runs through the official YouTube IFrame embed. There is no stream ripping or audio/video separation.
• Non-premium playback through the embed shows ads — the extension does not (and will not) block them.
• It does not modify the live YouTube Music player; it only reads the album/playlist id that's currently open and drives its own separate embed.
• Album pages (OLAK5uy_…) are the intended case. A regular playlist of music videos has no audio-only equivalent, so those play as-is.

Notes

• After reloading the extension at chrome://extensions, also reload any open music.youtube.com tab — otherwise the on-page buttons stop responding.
• The player opens in its own normal tab so audio persists while you keep browsing.

Disclaimer

This is an unofficial, independent project. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by YouTube, YouTube Music, or Google. "YouTube" and "YouTube Music" are trademarks of Google LLC. All audio and content are played through YouTube's official embedded player and remain subject to YouTube's Terms of Service.

License

MIT © Ajith Kanumuri