ytbud Add to Chrome

How to change the YouTube theme on PC

Updated · tested in Chrome

Short answer

On a computer, click your profile picture (or the ⋮ menu when signed out), then Appearance, and choose Dark theme, Light theme or Use device theme. For any other colors, add a theme extension. ytbud’s skins theme the YouTube page and the player together.

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The Wax Print skin on a YouTube watch page
The Wax Print skin on YouTube.

Change the theme in YouTube’s settings

  1. Open youtube.com in Chrome.
  2. Click your profile picture, or ⋮ in the top right if you’re signed out.
  3. Choose Appearance.
  4. Pick Use device theme, Dark theme or Light theme.

That’s the full list: three options, and none of them changes the player.

With ytbud, step by step

  1. Add ytbud to Chrome.
  2. Leave “Dark theme” on (it is by default) for a dark page with no light flash between videos.
  3. Open the Skins page from the toolbar icon and pick a skin. Synthwave turns the page to dusk; Wax Print to warm gold; Terminal to green on black.
  4. For OLED screens, turn on “True black” in Tools.

Good to know

Themes the whole page
A skin’s page theme reaches the masthead, search box, buttons and description box, not only the video frame.
Changes everywhere at once
A new choice applies in every open YouTube tab without a reload.

Questions

Can I change the YouTube color from red?

Not in YouTube’s settings. With ytbud the progress bar takes the skin’s color: pink neon, amber, green phosphor, blue and more.

Does a theme extension slow YouTube down?

ytbud applies a skin as one stylesheet and runs only the tools you turn on.

Will my theme stay after YouTube updates?

Skins use YouTube’s own class names, listed in one file the extension can refresh from ytbud.com without a store update.