Discussion summary

PeerTube is a decentralized video platform that supports streaming and offers some filtering options. Moderation varies by instance, and user experiences differ regarding content quality and loading issues.

What the discussion says

  • Supports streaming and filtering capabilities.
  • Moderation is handled by individual instances.
  • User experiences range from positive to issues with loading.
  • Concerns about NSFW content filling instances.
It does enable/support streaming.
mxuribe
Each instance does its own moderation.
aembleton

Comments

Hacker News

Does it allow streaming?

by ekjhgkejhgk

Yes. But a click on the link will provide a more detailed answer.

by polonbike

I've tried a few of these alternative sites, and it's just not a fun place to go find videos from interesting people working on projects, etc. A lot of unpleasant extremist videos, a lot of slop, with no good ability to filter out just what I want to see. Sure, YouTube has these too but I can manage to keep it at bay.

by fortran77

It does have some ability to filter. I am subscribed to a few channels on the Makertube instance and regularly watch some videos there.

You can mute channels or entire federated instances so they don't appear in feeds or search results. It does get tiresome to always have to do this when you see unwanted video's, but they do stay gone, unlike Youtube's system of "Not Interested"/"Don't recomend this channel".

All in all i've been watching less Youtube lately and starting to watch some Peertube videos and finding the grassroots nature of it very refreshing.

by EatBroccoli

Is there any moderation? how long until it's filled to the top with nsfw stuff?

by gargola_

I guess each instance does its own moderation. Peertube has been around for years and still no one watches it.

by aembleton

My recent experience with PeerTube was to click on the OpenMW released video and the video didn't load. Is that a regular occurrence on PeerTube?

by thinkingtoilet

The main advantage of PeerTube and alike is that they keep the “professional content creators” and their crappy content away.

Because of their unique monetisation feature.

by rq1

PeerTube: we don't recommend cat videos. Also PeerTube: 10 cat videos on the front page

by zftnb666

User generated content: check, comment section: check.

How do people running an instance not fall foul of all the protect the children UK legislation? Will peers also be done by the UK regulator, or only hosts?

by rapidaneurism

I'm giving this an honest try to post some music I made, cause Google randomly banned me yesterday for "bot activity" and wants an appeal. I'm not mad or anything, just thinking they won't let me use YouTube anymore.

by frollogaston

Random idea…

1. Chunk one inside a YT video 2. Chunk two inside a TikTok video 3. Chunk three on an X thread

And then just post the manifest somewhere that can be read by a client, that then pulls the data in (video, doc, anything)

Obv, not meant for speed or good UX, but if we’re going down the route of decentralization, we can probably leverage social platforms to host chunks of data.

by matt_lo

The biggest problem I see is that you need to search for videos. If this is going to work you need a YouTube like home page with videos on it and a different webpage talking about the tech. Using a search page to find videos instead of being presented with one is a non starter.

by buggylearning

is it bulletproof ? I don't think peertube has fixed that massive legal liability to the "seeders"

same situation that bitorrent found itself in

by zuzululu

If you only seed videos you have full legal rights to (creative commons [as long as you follow the license terms properly], public domain, or videos you personally created yourself, therefore own all rights to outright), then where's the worry? If you choose to seed copyrighted videos, well then that's all on you to handle the legality of (or lack thereof) I'd suppose... :shrug:

by blooalien

Hasn't cared about PeerTube for a long time, but this software is getting really impressive. Maybe it's time to move towards the next step: getting publishers on board.

I could totally see myself hooked if I can watch news on it. Can someone from a proper news agency, such as BBC, DW, Reuters, NYT etc test the software and maybe make a pitch? If these agencies are hosting their own PeerTube instances, that would be a major win.

by nirui

Publishers won't get on board until you can work out how to sort out advertising, paid subscriptions, and blocking ad blockers.

by Gigachad

I wonder if peertube could be used as backend infra for a security camera system, the tech seems promising. Also with all these instances hosting their own content, what do they do to combat cgnat? do individuals need to upload to an instance that has a public ip at a bare minimum. And what about directory listings for content, users would expect to be able to browse available videos and then burrow down to instances that host them no?

by globalnode

Last time I tried it the federation was whitelist based, that is you could only follow people on instances added by the admin of your instance. This made content discovery difficult.

by RobotToaster

It's not a platform, it's server-side software for creating a platform.

by someonebaggy

I used it a few months ago but there was lag and things not working.

I keep on saying we need to eliminate Google for real. I mean it too. But the services NEED TO BE FLAWLESS if you want to have a chance against Google. I don't understand why people don't seem to understand it. Software can often be better. PeerTube's software was disappointing and really poorly implemented compared to Google. There is no way to win here that way against Google. That's not realistic.

by shevy-java

It's not possible for FOSS to compete with Google in Google's niche — try it and you'll see why. It's possible to find a different niche and expand there.

by someonebaggy

It is unfortunate that in french « peer » reads as « pire » which translates to « worse-tube »

by Raed667

Let's go for "PearTube" then.

by astrobe_

Snarky lemma: In French, is the trend of things going worse to worse?

by gausswho

It's developed by a french company, so that confusion can't be that critical.

by dewey

Personally, I find the lack of videos to watch on PeerTube a huge plus. I tremendously reduced my weekly video watching time and I don't feel like missing out on something important. My favorite instance is makertube.net, but I visit few others too.

by butz

Join the discussion

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  • Hacker News
  • Does it allow streaming?
    by ekjhgkejhgk
  • I'm not affiliated with peertube...but yes it does enable/support streaming: https://github.com/Chocobozzz/PeerTube#video-streaming-even-...
    by mxuribe
  • Yes. But a click on the link will provide a more detailed answer.
    by polonbike
  • This does: https://safebots.github.io/Safecloud

    I designed it in order to stream videos and get paid without worrying about getting deplatformed

    Two weeks ago it was covered in a respected security publication: https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2026/06/19/safecloud-browser...

    It's coming out soon, but if you're adventurous, you can try it on GitHub already.

    Edit: I posted it on HN right now as https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48763565

    by EGreg
  • by serendipty01
  • I've tried a few of these alternative sites, and it's just not a fun place to go find videos from interesting people working on projects, etc. A lot of unpleasant extremist videos, a lot of slop, with no good ability to filter out just what I want to see. Sure, YouTube has these too but I can manage to keep it at bay.
    by fortran77
  • It does have some ability to filter. I am subscribed to a few channels on the Makertube instance and regularly watch some videos there.

    You can mute channels or entire federated instances so they don't appear in feeds or search results. It does get tiresome to always have to do this when you see unwanted video's, but they do stay gone, unlike Youtube's system of "Not Interested"/"Don't recomend this channel".

    All in all i've been watching less Youtube lately and starting to watch some Peertube videos and finding the grassroots nature of it very refreshing.

    by EatBroccoli
  • Is there any moderation? how long until it's filled to the top with nsfw stuff?
    by gargola_
  • I guess each instance does its own moderation. Peertube has been around for years and still no one watches it.
    by aembleton
  • My recent experience with PeerTube was to click on the OpenMW released video and the video didn't load. Is that a regular occurrence on PeerTube?
    by thinkingtoilet
  • The main advantage of PeerTube and alike is that they keep the “professional content creators” and their crappy content away.

    Because of their unique monetisation feature.

    by rq1
  • PeerTube: we don't recommend cat videos. Also PeerTube: 10 cat videos on the front page
    by zftnb666
  • User generated content: check, comment section: check.

    How do people running an instance not fall foul of all the protect the children UK legislation? Will peers also be done by the UK regulator, or only hosts?

    by rapidaneurism
  • I'm giving this an honest try to post some music I made, cause Google randomly banned me yesterday for "bot activity" and wants an appeal. I'm not mad or anything, just thinking they won't let me use YouTube anymore.
    by frollogaston
  • Random idea…

    1. Chunk one inside a YT video 2. Chunk two inside a TikTok video 3. Chunk three on an X thread

    And then just post the manifest somewhere that can be read by a client, that then pulls the data in (video, doc, anything)

    Obv, not meant for speed or good UX, but if we’re going down the route of decentralization, we can probably leverage social platforms to host chunks of data.

    by matt_lo
  • The biggest problem I see is that you need to search for videos. If this is going to work you need a YouTube like home page with videos on it and a different webpage talking about the tech. Using a search page to find videos instead of being presented with one is a non starter.
    by buggylearning
  • is it bulletproof ? I don't think peertube has fixed that massive legal liability to the "seeders"

    same situation that bitorrent found itself in

    by zuzululu
  • If you only seed videos you have full legal rights to (creative commons [as long as you follow the license terms properly], public domain, or videos you personally created yourself, therefore own all rights to outright), then where's the worry? If you choose to seed copyrighted videos, well then that's all on you to handle the legality of (or lack thereof) I'd suppose... :shrug:
    by blooalien
  • Hasn't cared about PeerTube for a long time, but this software is getting really impressive. Maybe it's time to move towards the next step: getting publishers on board.

    I could totally see myself hooked if I can watch news on it. Can someone from a proper news agency, such as BBC, DW, Reuters, NYT etc test the software and maybe make a pitch? If these agencies are hosting their own PeerTube instances, that would be a major win.

    by nirui
  • Publishers won't get on board until you can work out how to sort out advertising, paid subscriptions, and blocking ad blockers.
    by Gigachad
  • I wonder if peertube could be used as backend infra for a security camera system, the tech seems promising. Also with all these instances hosting their own content, what do they do to combat cgnat? do individuals need to upload to an instance that has a public ip at a bare minimum. And what about directory listings for content, users would expect to be able to browse available videos and then burrow down to instances that host them no?
    by globalnode
  • Last time I tried it the federation was whitelist based, that is you could only follow people on instances added by the admin of your instance. This made content discovery difficult.
    by RobotToaster
  • It's not a platform, it's server-side software for creating a platform.
    by someonebaggy
  • I used it a few months ago but there was lag and things not working.

    I keep on saying we need to eliminate Google for real. I mean it too. But the services NEED TO BE FLAWLESS if you want to have a chance against Google. I don't understand why people don't seem to understand it. Software can often be better. PeerTube's software was disappointing and really poorly implemented compared to Google. There is no way to win here that way against Google. That's not realistic.

    by shevy-java
  • It's not possible for FOSS to compete with Google in Google's niche — try it and you'll see why. It's possible to find a different niche and expand there.
    by someonebaggy
  • It is unfortunate that in french « peer » reads as « pire » which translates to « worse-tube »
    by Raed667
  • Let's go for "PearTube" then.
    by astrobe_
  • Snarky lemma: In French, is the trend of things going worse to worse?
    by gausswho
  • It's developed by a french company, so that confusion can't be that critical.
    by dewey
  • Personally, I find the lack of videos to watch on PeerTube a huge plus. I tremendously reduced my weekly video watching time and I don't feel like missing out on something important. My favorite instance is makertube.net, but I visit few others too.
    by butz

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