On your phone

Audio-only is especially useful on a phone. When you are listening with the screen off, replacing the video with a direct audio stream can reduce mobile data use and battery drain. Firefox for Android gets the same YouTube Audio features as desktop, arranged for touch.

Set it up

Install the add-on from Mozilla Add-ons in Firefox for Android, then open YouTube or YouTube Music while signed out. Firefox 128 or newer is required.

Open Firefox’s extension menu and choose YouTube Audio to reach the popup. Audio-only and Background play are on by default. Use those quick controls to change either feature, or select Pause YouTube Audio when you want ordinary YouTube behavior for a while. Open the options page for blocking, skipping, cleaner, music, and download settings.

Listen with the screen off

With Background play enabled, audio can keep playing when you switch apps or lock the phone. The add-on leaves YouTube’s native media session in place, so Android’s notification and lock-screen controls can continue to handle play, pause, and seeking.

YouTube’s mobile player sometimes replaces its own video player. The add-on watches for that change and reapplies audio-only without intentionally resetting your position. If it cannot do so safely, it leaves normal playback in control.

Live and DVR streams, age-restricted videos, members-only uploads, and content made for kids fall back to normal YouTube. On a phone, that means normal video data use may return for that item. Check the popup for the actual state.

See Install YouTube Audio for beta files and source builds, or read The audio-only experience for mode and fallback details.