No Shorts.
No noisy subscription sections.
More control over the desktop grid.
YouTube Cleaner is a lightweight userscript made for people who prefer the older YouTube desktop browsing experience.
It focuses on the interface around the player, not the player itself.
The goal is simple:
- remove Shorts from the interface
- remove noisy sections from Subscriptions
- restore a denser desktop grid when you want it
- keep YouTube clean, simple, and easier to browse
If you miss the 2015-2016 style YouTube desktop experience, this script tries to bring a bit of that feeling back.
- Hide YouTube Shorts from the homepage, subscriptions, sidebar, and other common sections
- Hide the Shorts button from the left sidebar
- Redirect
/shorts/pages back to the YouTube homepage - Remove "Most relevant", recommendations, and similar noisy blocks from the Subscriptions page
- Switch between automatic YouTube columns and a manual grid
- Use a slider from 1 to 8 video thumbnails per row
- Show dislike counts on watch pages with Return YouTube Dislike
- Add a cleaner-style settings button in the YouTube top bar
- Split settings into clear menu sections
- Save your settings locally in your browser
- Installation
- Usage
- Recommended Settings
- Privacy Notes
- Common Issues
- Update URL
- Changelog
- Contribution
- Disclaimer
- License
If you do not already have Tampermonkey installed, install it for your browser:
- Tampermonkey for Chrome
- Tampermonkey for Firefox
- Tampermonkey for Edge
- Tampermonkey for Opera / Opera GX
Click here and press Install:
Open the Tampermonkey Dashboard and make sure YouTube Cleaner is enabled.
Go to:
Refresh the page.
You should see a small cleaner icon in the YouTube top bar, near the Create and Notifications buttons.
Click the YouTube Cleaner button in the YouTube top bar to open the settings menu.
Available settings:
- General
- Enable or disable YouTube Cleaner globally
- Shorts
- Enable or disable Shorts hiding
- Enable or disable Shorts page redirection
- Subscriptions
- Enable or disable noisy subscription section hiding
- Layout
- Use YouTube automatic columns
- Choose 1 to 8 thumbnails per row with the slider
- Extras
- Enable or disable dislike counts on watch pages
Your settings are saved locally in your browser.
No account, server, or custom backend is used by YouTube Cleaner.
For a desktop experience closer to older YouTube layouts:
- Cleaner: enabled
- Hide Shorts: enabled
- Redirect Shorts pages: enabled
- Hide noisy subscription sections: enabled
- Automatic grid: disabled
- Manual columns: 5
For large monitors, 6 to 8 columns can also work well.
If YouTube changes its grid again, try enabling Automatic grid first.
Most features run entirely in your browser and only change the local YouTube interface.
The Show dislikes option calls the public Return YouTube Dislike API for the current video ID. Keep it disabled if you do not want the script to make that external request.
When dislikes are enabled, YouTube Cleaner keeps YouTube's native like/dislike buttons and injects the Return YouTube Dislike count into the original dislike button.
The dislike count refreshes regularly and stays in a compact YouTube-style format.
Try refreshing YouTube first.
If it still does not appear:
- make sure Tampermonkey is installed
- make sure YouTube Cleaner is enabled in the Tampermonkey Dashboard
- make sure the script is installed for
youtube.com - try disabling other YouTube-related userscripts or extensions
YouTube changes its interface often, and some layouts can vary depending on language, region, account, or A/B testing.
Try:
- refreshing the page
- opening YouTube in a new tab
- checking that YouTube Cleaner is enabled
- checking that Hide Shorts is enabled
- checking that no other YouTube script conflicts with it
If Shorts are still visible, open an issue with:
- your browser
- your YouTube language
- the page where Shorts still appear
- a screenshot if possible
Try switching Automatic grid off, then move the slider to another value.
If it still does not work, another extension or userscript may be modifying YouTube's layout.
Make sure Show dislikes is enabled and that you are on a regular /watch?v=... video page.
If it still does not appear:
- refresh the page
- check that Tampermonkey allows
returnyoutubedislikeapi.com - check whether another YouTube extension changes the like button area
YouTube may change its theme variables or layout.
Try:
- refreshing the page
- switching YouTube between dark and light mode
- disabling other YouTube interface extensions
If the issue continues, open an issue with a screenshot.
This script avoids using innerHTML because YouTube may enforce Trusted Types security rules.
If the menu does not open:
- Open the browser console
- Click the YouTube Cleaner button
- Copy the error message
- Open an issue with the error
YouTube Cleaner is configured to update from GitHub.
Userscript URL:
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Tkremre/ytcleaner/main/YouTube-Cleaner.user.jsThe userscript header uses:
// @updateURL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Tkremre/ytcleaner/main/YouTube-Cleaner.user.js
// @downloadURL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Tkremre/ytcleaner/main/YouTube-Cleaner.user.jsMake sure the script file is named exactly:
YouTube-Cleaner.user.js- Fixed the dislike counter placement by keeping YouTube's native reaction buttons
- Removed the replacement like/dislike button group
- Removed the compact/full count option after it proved too fragile on YouTube's current layout
- Kept the dislike count in a compact YouTube-style format
- Added regular dislike count refresh without touching the native like counter
- Kept the userscript version aligned with this release at
1.0.2
- Added separated menu sections for General, Shorts, Subscriptions, Layout, and Extras
- Added independent toggles for Shorts hiding, subscription cleanup, and dislikes
- Added more blocked subscription section titles and normalized accent handling
- Replaced fixed column buttons with Automatic grid plus a 1 to 8 column slider
- Added optional Return YouTube Dislike counts on watch pages with replacement reaction buttons
- Improved replacement reaction button animation and optimistic count updates
- Added regular reaction counter refresh
- Replaced the top bar tune icon with a cleaner-style icon
- Kept the userscript version aligned with this release at
1.0.1
- Initial public release
- Hide YouTube Shorts across the interface
- Hide the Shorts button from the left sidebar
- Redirect
/shorts/pages back to Subscriptions - Remove the "Most relevant" section from the Subscriptions page
- Add a small settings button in the YouTube top bar
- Choose between 3, 4, 5, or 6 video columns
- Save settings locally in the browser
- Support YouTube dark and light themes
Suggestions, bug reports, and improvements are welcome.
You can contribute by opening an issue or creating a pull request.
Useful bug reports include:
- browser name and version
- operating system
- YouTube language
- screenshot of the issue
- page URL where the issue happens
- console error if there is one
Useful ideas include:
- better selectors for hiding Shorts
- support for more YouTube languages
- cleaner UI improvements
- better grid handling for unusual screen sizes
- better selectors for YouTube UI cleanup
YouTube Cleaner is not affiliated with YouTube, Google, or Alphabet.
This script only modifies the YouTube interface locally in your browser.
This project is licensed under the MIT License.