PeerTube: the Fediverse’s decentralized video platform (part 1: first impressions)

Did you know that the Fediverse has its own decentralized video platform? An alternative to YouTube with no advertising, ad tracking nor algorithmic feeds?

On The Future is Federated so far I have covered microblogging platforms (Mastodon, GoToSocial, Sharkey), social platforms with advanced functionalities (Friendica), content aggregators (Lemmy, Mbin, PieFed), the interoperability between text-based and image-based platforms (Mastodon <-> Pixelfed) and tools that allow long-form writing on the Fediverse (the ActivityPub for Wordpress plugin). Now it’s time I turn my attention to video: more specifically PeerTube, a decentralized alternative to YouTube.

What is PeerTube?

PeerTube is a federated, open source video platform powered by ActivityPub and developed by the French non-profit Framasoft. The project launched in 2018 and according to fedidb it’s the 5th most popular software on the Fediverse behind Mastodon, Pixelfed, MissKey and Lemmy, with some 350,000 registered users (of which 55,000 are monthly active users).

The best way to describe it? I’m letting Framasoft explain it via their official video (a side note: embedding videos doesn't really work in the Ghost newsletter, so I'm adding video screenshots that re-direct to the video page):

I plan to cover PeerTube in a miniseries:

• Part 1: first impressions, onboarding, using PeerTube from the point of view of a viewer (this post!)
• Part 2: using PeerTube from the point of view of a creator and impressions after a few weeks of use (on desktop and mobile)
• Part 3 (TBD): self-hosting my own PeerTube instance and my impressions as a creator on it

A word about personal biases

Before we proceed, it’s crucial that I disclose personal biases that will no doubt inform my impressions of PeerTube.

This is the hardest article I ever had to write for The Future Is Federated because I spent 15 years working in various capacities in the indie film industry - as a director, cinematographer and editor. I have been taking a long hiatus from filmmaking since becoming a mom in 2021, because my typical travel and productions schedules were incompatible with caring for an infant / young child.

Well, I may know a little too much about what it takes to create and distribute videos.

I was never into YouTube but like many of my professional peers I used Vimeo extensively to showcase my work. The platform distributing my documentary The Illusionists to the public is VHX, which was acquired by Vimeo a few years ago.

I was tempted to say that for this article I would set my knowledge aside and put myself in the shoes of a regular viewer of online videos.

Thing is, my “insider” knowledge of the film world may come in handy to explain some of the current limitations of PeerTube (in comparison to Big Tech’s offerings).

So I will chime in with that knowledge whenever it is useful, but I will try to showcase PeerTube from the point of view of a regular viewer, whenever possible.

Let’s not think of YouTube vs. PeerTube – but rather, YouTube AND PeerTube (for now)

If you approach PeerTube as a complete substitute to YouTube you may come away disappointed and end up being turned off by it – which would be a pity.

While I firmly believe that the Fediverse has mature social platforms that can fully replace Big Tech offerings right now (in microblogging, photo sharing, content aggregation and long-form writing), we are not quite there yet for video.

YouTube is a behemoth hosting 5 billion videos, with 2.5 billion monthly active users from around the world. It is supported by advertising and provides monetization opportunities to popular creators. YouTube offers a cornucopia of sleek, beautiful videos with high production values - by small time creators as well as professional filmmakers, TV networks and film studios. YouTube can be a substitute for regular TV or even VOD platforms like Netflix. It already is, for many people. The quality and quantity of its archive is impressive.

PeerTube’s user base and video catalogue is minuscule by comparison; the videos it hosts are reminiscent of the early days of YouTube. Think: mostly home videos without motion graphics or multiple camera set-ups in professionally lit sets.

There is something genuine and irresistibly endearing about the world of PeerTube that is very difficult to find these days on YouTube. Not just different aesthetics and production values, but also: no thirst traps or desperate attempts to appeal to an algorithm – because the Fediverse doesn’t work like that. Chronological - instead of algorithmic feeds - are the standard on the Fediverse. Creators on PeerTube make videos about topics they are passionate about and post them online without a care in the world about how they will be received. Because there are no algorithms, only their followers and people who search for a specific topic will likely find such videos.

Things are starting to change, though, with YouTube creators setting up accounts on PeerTube and mirroring their posts there. It’s a smart move, as the Fediverse and ActivityPub (the protocol that allows Fediverse software to talk to each other) grant creators some superpowers.

Actually decentralization and federation provide real advantages to viewers and creators alike. So it’s worthwhile to become familiar with PeerTube and explore it, even if it is not as mature, sleek, or content-rich as YouTube.

Searching for videos on PeerTube

The homepage of the PeerTube project – joinpeertube.org - mostly provides information about the software. If you want to browse the videos hosted by the hundreds of independent servers that make up the PeerTube community, you’ll have to click on “Browse content” in the top menu. PeerTube’s innovative new search engine - SepiaSearch - powers those searches and also has its own standalone website: sepiasearch.org.

Just like YouTube, DailyMotion or Vimeo, where you can browse videos without having an account, you can look up any PeerTube video by using Sepia Search or visiting the homepage of any PeerTube instance.

Let’s look up “news” for example.

The search yields over 5000 results. There are preview cards showcasing 5 videos and below them, a couple of results for “News” channels and farther down the page 2 results for “News” playlists.

Let’s click on the top result: “Fediverse News - February 2025”:

This video is part of the FediHost “News” channel, running on a self-hosted instance: https://video.fedihost.co/

Commenting on a PeerTube video

Now, I really enjoyed FediHost's video and I’d like to comment on it, giving a shout-out to the host Paige. In the world of Big Tech’s closed silos, I would have to create an account on the platform hosting the video in order to like, comment or follow a creator - even if I have no plans to ever upload any videos. This is the case on YouTube and Vimeo but not on the Fediverse because of the magic of ActivityPub.

I can interact with FediHost's videos, like them, comment on them and follow this PeerTube channel from any Fediverse social account I have (Mastodon, Friendica or Sharkey). Remember: to be an active participant of the Fediverse you technically only need ONE account; I personally have several because I am trying out various software to write about the experience for The Future Is Federated and showcase interoperability. I could very well be a full participant of the Fediverse with just a Mastodon, GoToSocial, Friendica or Sharkey account (it’s easier with microblogging platforms compatible with the Mastodon API).

When I click on the area “add a comment” a window pops-up: “You are one step away from commenting. You can comment using an account on any ActivityPub-compatible instance (PeerTube/Mastodon/Pleroma account for example).”

I enter my Mastodon username - @_elena@mastodon.social - and click on “Remote interact”. This opens up the PeerTube post with the video on my Mastodon instance:

I can simply scroll down to the comments area, add my thoughts, and when I hit "Reply" my comment will immediately appear on Mastodon and PeerTube, under the video (on the whole Fediverse, actually). That’s the magic of ActivityPub.

Subscribing to a PeerTube channel

I really like the videos produced by FediHost and I want to subscribe to the channel. Easy. I simply click on the big “Subscribe” button under any FediHost video and I’m offered two options:

1. Subscribing with an ActivityPub account (i.e. Mastodon, Friendica, Sharkey, etc.)
2. Subscribing via RSS

Let’s try ActivityPub first.

For the purposes of this exercise, I will use my Friendica account (to show that these actions work across various Fediverse software). So I click on Subscribe and enter @ele@elenarossini.fr (my Friendica username). When I press “Remote Subscribe” I am redirected to my Friendica page and all I have to do is click on “Submit Request” (that’s the jargon of Friendica, on Mastodon the same button would read « subscribe »).

Done, I am now subscribed to FediHost’s News channel (and I could put it in a Friendica Circle if I wanted to). When FediHost publishes a new video on their channel, it would show up in my Friendica feed, where I could watch it, comment on it or like it. The magic of ActivityPub once again.

Now, why would I want to subscribe to a PeerTube channel via RSS? To add channels I like to my RSS reader or podcasting app, so that whenever a new episode is published, it would be pushed to my phone (credit goes to wakest ⁂ for pointing out this incredible feature). Let me show you how it works.

The app I use for podcasts is Pocket Casts. I’m logged in on my desktop computer and in another window I have FediHost’s News Channel. By right-clicking on “Subscribe via RSS” I can grab the RSS feed of the FediHost Channel and then paste it into the search bar of my podcasting app Pocket Casts. From there, I can click on “Follow” and thus subscribe to the channel in Pocket Casts. I have created a PeerTube folder in my account where I group PeerTube channels I am subscribed to.

When a new episode appears, it shows up on my phone’s podcasting app amongst the list of new podcast episodes:

And in my RSS reader Feedly, the FediHost channel appears like this:

PeerTube on the go: mobile apps

Framasoft - the company behind PeerTube - announced the release of official mobile apps in December 2024 with a blog post that powerfully stated: “PeerTube mobile app: discover videos while caring for your attention.”

An excerpt:

Neither PeerTube nor the mobile app have any interest into grabbing your attention, forcefeeding you ads and milking behavioural and personal data from you. That is how we freed the design from toxic design patterns such as doom scrolling, curated feeds, needy notifications and so on. It might sound obvious, but it takes real effort to concieve an interface cleaned from what has unfortunately became the new normal. Even more if you need to keep it familiar enough so it says easy to use.

The developers explained that in order for their official app to be accepted by Apple’s iOS Store and Google’s Play Store, they had to follow stringent moderation rules by these big tech behemoths and embed a curated list of instances. So whereas on the web you can easily access the entirety of PeerTube’s catalog, on official mobile apps the experience is limited to an approved whitelist by Apple and Google.

Remember the video channels by FediHost that I really enjoyed? Well, this is what happens if you search for "FediHost" on PeerTube's mobile apps:

It's a bit of a letdown to have such a limited selection on the PeerTube mobile apps. I'm incredibly grateful to Framasoft for releasing PeerTube mobile apps for both iOS and Android - it must have taken them so much work, money and time to do it. And they work really well! Thing is, these are still the very early days of PeerTube and while the desktop experience is great, I cannot say the same thing for its mobile apps (for now) because of the heavy content moderation by Apple and Google, which leads to a really limited number of videos available on the iOS and Android apps.

My overall first impression of PeerTube is:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ on desktop computers (on par with any offering by Big Tech video platforms)
⭐⭐ on mobile (for lack of content, not really PeerTube's fault, as explained above).

This is only my first impression. I intend to use PeerTube every day and hopefully find tips and tricks to improve the experience. I will be covering all this - as well as interviews with PeerTube creators - in Part 2, coming later this month.

Onwards and upwards,

Elena

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