# h264ify

5 Hacker News commenters recommended h264ify and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** A browser extension that forces YouTube to serve H.264 video, which people use to reduce processing load and restore GPU decoding.

## Why people recommend it

- Lowers processing load on YouTube (1 comments): "You can force YouTube to use H264 instead (via extensions like H264ify), that should reduce the processing load." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46868678))
- Restores GPU video decoding (1 comments): "Install the h264ify extension to force h264 during content negotiation and get your gpu decoding back." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45906462))
- Returns playback to normal (1 comments): "Got a plugin to force h264 (h264ify) and it's back to normal." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49685780))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [DeArrow](https://hackerapproved.com/p/dearrow.md): 40 recommend
- [Bypass Paywalls Clean](https://hackerapproved.com/p/bypass-paywalls-clean.md): 32 recommend
- [Old Reddit Redirect](https://hackerapproved.com/p/old-reddit-redirect.md): 20 recommend
- [Orange Juice browser extension](https://hackerapproved.com/p/orange-juice.md): 18 recommend
- [Stylus](https://hackerapproved.com/p/stylus.md): 14 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "h264ify", https://hackerapproved.com/p/h264ify/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).