Privacy
No account, no analytics, and no server of ours. Here is exactly what leaves your browser, and what never does.
Last updated: August 1, 2026
The short version
YouTube Audio is built for signed-out use. It does not need, read, or attach your YouTube login. Requests made by the add-on omit credentials, so your YouTube cookies are not sent on the wire with its audio lookups, media requests, downloads, or optional segment lookups.
The developer and this project receive no browsing or playback data. The add-on has no analytics, no account system, and no server of ours for your activity to pass through. YouTube and Google's media host still receive the requests needed to provide audio, and can see the request IP address. Optional segment skipping contacts SponsorBlock with a short hash. The complete flow is below.
Exactly what goes where
| What | Where it goes | What is sent | Can you turn it off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Audio lookup | YouTube / InnerTube | Credentialless request with the video ID and client metadata. Your IP address is visible to YouTube. | Yes, by revoking data consent. The add-on stays installed but inactive. |
| Media stream | googlevideo | Credentialless request for the selected audio stream. Your IP address is visible to Google's media host. | Yes, by revoking data consent. Transmission-dependent playback stops. |
| Artwork | YouTube thumbnails / i.ytimg.com | Credentialless request for the selected video thumbnail. Your IP address is visible to YouTube's thumbnail host. | Yes. Artwork is on by default and can be turned off in options. |
| Segment skipping | SponsorBlock / sponsor.ajay.app | Only a short four-character hash prefix, with no cookies or referrer. Exact matching happens on your device. | Yes. It is off by default and contacts SponsorBlock only after you turn it on. Existing enabled choices remain enabled after an update. |
| Add-on updates | Mozilla AMO | A standard update check controlled by Firefox and the platform. | Platform-controlled through Firefox's add-on update settings. |
| Settings | Local Firefox storage | Your feature choices. They never leave your device through the add-on. | Yes. Reset to defaults, clear extension data, or remove the add-on. |
Your consent and control
The add-on asks before it transmits anything. On Firefox 140 and later on desktop, and Firefox 142 and
later on Android, Firefox's built-in install prompt collects consent for the required
websiteContent data permission. On older supported versions (Firefox 128–139 on desktop and
128–141 on Android), a custom consent screen opens in a tab on install and on update. Nothing is
transmitted until you choose Allow.
If you decline on the custom screen, the add-on uninstalls because its core audio lookup cannot work without sending the opened video's details to YouTube. You can revoke consent at any time from Data & consent in options. Revoking immediately stops all add-on transmission and disables the features that depend on it; the add-on stays installed but inactive.
Startup fails closed. Until consent is resolved, the add-on applies an all-disabled state and does not inject the code that can make these transmissions.
Logged out only
Signed-out playback is the only supported use case. The extension does not inspect your YouTube account, borrow its permissions, or attach its cookies to extension requests. If a video requires an account, the audio-only path is not used and normal YouTube playback remains in control.
What credentialless means
The audio lookup asks YouTube's own player service for a direct stream with credentials omitted. Media from googlevideo is requested the same way. This means no YouTube cookies are attached to those add-on requests. It does not make the requests invisible to the destination. YouTube and Google still receive the technical request, including the video ID or media URL, required client information, and the IP address used to connect.
The same credentialless rule applies when the optional download feature requests a fresh audio stream. Read How it works for the playback sequence.
What “collects nothing about you” means here
It means the developer and project receive no record of your browsing, playback, searches, or settings. There is no project analytics script, project account, telemetry collector, or project-operated backend. No server of ours is in the playback path, because this project does not run one.
A local diagnostics tool can assemble settings states, limited counts, general browser and device details, and recent extension events. It is designed not to record what you watched, searched for, or typed. You can view the preview, copy it, export it to a local file, or clear it from your device. Diagnostics are never transmitted, and the add-on has no issue reporter.
The one optional exception, SponsorBlock
Segment skipping is an explicit opt-in and is off by default for new installations. If you turn it on, the add-on hashes the video ID and sends only the first four characters of that hash to SponsorBlock. A four-character prefix is shared by many videos, so the service returns a bucket of possible matches. The extension finds the exact video locally. The lookup omits credentials and a referrer. Existing users who already enabled segment skipping keep that choice after an update.
This request is optional. Turn off segment skipping in the options page to stop it. See blocking and skipping for the related controls.
Fail open
Audio lookup, blocking, skipping, loudness, EQ, and download features are designed to get out of the way when a request fails or a response is unfamiliar. Live and DVR streams, age-restricted videos, members-only uploads, and content made for kids use normal YouTube playback instead of the direct audio path. That avoids sticky retries and risky workarounds, but it also means YouTube's ordinary page and playback requests apply during fallback.
The privacy promise has a defined subject: the project receives no browsing or playback data. The services you directly ask for audio, updates, or optional skip data receive the limited requests listed in the table.
You can review the open source code on GitHub, manage every optional feature in the settings guide, or remove the add-on at any time through Firefox.