Install a Chrome extension manually (and update it)

YouTube Turbo Downloader is not in the Chrome Web Store, because Google does not always approve extensions like this one. You install it from a file in about a minute, and you update it the same way. This guide covers Chrome, Edge, Brave, Opera, Vivaldi and Firefox.

Chrome, Edge, Brave, Opera and Vivaldi

1. Download the zip from the download page and unzip it. Put the folder somewhere permanent: the browser keeps reading the extension from it, so do not delete it.
2. Open the extensions page. A web page cannot open it for you, so type chrome://extensions in the address bar (edge://extensions, brave://extensions, opera://extensions or vivaldi://extensions in those browsers).
3. Turn on Developer mode, the switch at the top right.
4. Click Load unpacked and choose the unzipped folder, the one that contains manifest.json.
5. Pin it: click the puzzle-piece button, then the pin next to the extension. Reload your YouTube tab with F5.

Firefox

Open about:debugging#/runtime/this-firefox, click Load Temporary Add-on and choose the downloaded zip. Firefox keeps a manually loaded add-on only until you restart it, unless you use Developer Edition, Nightly or ESR. The lasting way is the listing on Mozilla Add-ons, which is coming soon and will update itself.

How to update it

A manually installed extension does not update itself. When a new version is out (see the changelog), download it from the download page, unzip it over the same folder you loaded before, then open the extensions page and press the reload button on the extension. Removing the old one and loading the new folder works too.

Common errors

• "Manifest file is missing or unreadable": you selected the zip or the wrong folder. Unzip first, then choose the folder that directly contains manifest.json (not a folder inside a folder).
• The Load unpacked button is missing: Developer mode is off. Turn it on at the top right.
• A notice about developer mode extensions when the browser starts: normal for manually installed extensions, you can dismiss it.
• The button does not appear on YouTube: reload the YouTube tab with F5 and check the extension is switched on.

Is the file genuine?

Download it only from this site. The download page shows a SHA-256 fingerprint for each file; on macOS or Linux run shasum -a 256 youtube-turbo-downloader-*.zip and compare.

Questions

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