Name: Shaper
Author: Shaper

YouTube's video player gives you plenty of speed options, but it won't remember your preference across videos. Every time you open a new video, you're back to the default 1x speed unless you manually change it again. Here's what you can do on desktop, and find a solution that works best for you.

1. YouTube's Native Controls: Manual Speed Changes Only

Best for: Anyone who wants to view most videos on 1x and occasionally wants to speed up or slow down specific videos without needing automation.

YouTube lets you adjust playback speed through the gear-shaped "Settings" menu on each video, or using keyboard shortcuts Shift + . (period) to speed up and Shift + , (comma) to slow down. You can choose from preset speeds or use the newer "Custom" slider to fine-tune anywhere between 0.25x and 4x in smaller increments.

The catch is that these settings apply only to the current tab and session. Close your browser, or open a new tab, and you'll need to adjust the speed all over again. YouTube still doesn't offer a built-in "always play at this speed" toggle on desktop.

2. YouTube Playback Speed Control Chrome Extension

Best for: Power users who want custom settings and want the settings to also apply to YouTube videos embedded in other websites.

This Chrome extension lets you control speed with keyboard shortcuts using + and - keys, works with embedded YouTube videos on other sites, and allows custom speed increments beyond YouTube's defaults.

3. Shaper Chrome Extension

Best for: Non-technical users who want a one-click setup to set a default playback speed from 0.25 to 16x that auto-applies across all videos, tabs and browser sessions, and are interested in customizing other websites beyond just YouTube with ease.

Offers a one-click setup to add the playback speed modification. Install Shaper, and click "Add to Shaper" on the YouTube default speed modification. All your YouTube videos then play at 1.5x speed automatically, or you can reset it to a value between 0.25x and 16x.

Shaper also lets you make similar modifications to other websites using a chat interface. Browser Shaper’s library to customize your browsing experience with one-click.

4. YouTube Custom Speed (Multi-Browser Extension)

Best for: People who want to control the playback speed on multiple browsers - Chrome and Firefox.

Available for Chrome and Firefox, this extension provides similar speed granularity to other extensions and automatically applies your custom speeds across all videos.

5. YouTubeDefaultSpeed User Script

Best for: Technical users who are comfortable installing script managers and want more control over how the solution works.

This GitHub-hosted user script injects playback rate buttons under your profile picture and remembers your preferred speed across videos. It requires a script manager like Tampermonkey or Greasemonkey to run.

6. Custom User Scripts

Best for: Developers or advanced users who want to build their own solution or learn how the YouTube player works under the hood.

You can write or modify your own scripts to programmatically control the HTML5 player's playback parameters through browser console manipulation. This allows users to increase the speed all the way up to 8, which is more than YouTube’s native capabilities.

Right click on the YouTube tab, open the Console window. Inside the console window, type the following command and it will instantly change the playback speed of the current video. $('video').playbackRate = 8, (replace 8 with your desired speed, e.g., 1.5, 0.75, all the way up to 8) and press Enter.

Ultimately, the best solution depends on your workflow. If you only speed up videos occasionally, YouTube’s native shortcuts are enough. For a "set it and forget it" experience, a dedicated browser extension like Shaper or YouTube Playback Speed Control is the way to go. And for the developers out there? Pop open that console or import a script and take full control. Choose the tool that fits your style and reclaim your time.