YouTube Bandwidth Saver by Roberto Reale

YouTube uses SABR (Server-Advised Bitrate) to dynamically negotiate video quality server-side. Any attempt to intercept and strip video tracks client-side results in player errors (403).

To bypass this constraint safely (Plan C), the extension intercepts HTML5 player APIs on startup, forcing quality to tiny (144p). The low-resolution video is then covered by a visual overlay. As a result:
1. Video bandwidth consumption drops drastically (just a fraction of a Megabyte).
2. The player operates smoothly without abnormal interruptions—everything works: seeking, buffering, playlists, and continuous playback.

• No custom network requests. No extra fetches for watch pages, base.js, or HEAD verification requests.
• No network interception. To avoid triggering YouTube's anti-adblock systems, we do not monkeypatch fetch, XMLHttpRequest, or global variables like ytInitialPlayerResponse. We use native HTML5 player APIs instead.
• No eval, no remote code. We do not reconstruct URLs or decipher signatures; YouTube handles media delivery natively.
• No server telemetry. Settings and per-tab state are stored strictly locally (storage.sync and storage.session). No data ever leaves your device.
• No downloading, no ad blocking. Out of scope for a focused utility extension. (We recommend uBlock Origin Lite if you want to block video ads).