The difference to YouTube is that it's not intended to create a huge platform centralizing videos from the whole world on a single server farm (which is horribly expensive).
Linked together, these three features makes it easy to host videos on the server side, while remaining practical, ethical and fun for the internet users.
Because by design free/libre software respects our fundamental freedoms, and guarantees them by <ahref="https://github.com/Chocobozzz/PeerTube/blob/develop/LICENSE">a license</a>, so a legally enforceable contract.
The advantage of YouTube (and other platforms) is its video catalog: from knitting tutorials to Minecraft constructions through videos of kittens or holidays… you can find everything!
The more the video catalogue is varied, the more people are interested, the more videos are uploaded… but hosting videos from all over the world is (very, very) expensive!
If the hosting provider Knitting-PeerTube becomes friends with Kittens-Tube and Framatube, it will display the videos of others on its site, thus diluting hosting costs while remaining practical and complete for Internet users.
PeerTube's federation protocol will be fluid (everyone can choose their "friends" hosts), and based on <ahref="https://activitypub.rocks/">ActivityPub</a>: this will open the possibility to connect with tools like Mastodon or MediaGoblin.
When you host a large file like a video, the biggest thing to fear is success: if a video becomes viral and many people watch it at the same time, the server has a big risk of getting overloaded!
Peer-to-peer broadcasting allows, thanks to the <ahref="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebRTC">WebRTC</a> protocol, that Internet users who watch the same video at the same time exchange bits of files, which relieves the server.
If you are on a mobile phone or if your network does not allow it (router, firewall, etc.), this function is disabled and switches back to an "old-style" video broadcast 😉.
But with PeerTube, you can link your instance (your video website) to Zaïd's PeerTube instance (where he hosts videos of the lectures for his people's university), to Catherin's (who hosts her webmedia videos) or even to Solar's PeerTube instance (who manages a vloggers collective).
Thanks to the <ahref="https://activitypub.rocks/">ActivityPub</a> protocol (also used by <ahref="https://joinmastodon.org/">the Mastodon federation</a>, a free/libre Twitter alternative), PeerTube can federate several small hosters so they don't have to buy thousands of hard disks to host videos for the whole world.
As a result, on your PeerTube website, the audience will be able to watch not only your videos, but also videos hosted by Zaïd, Catherin or Solar… without having to host their videos on your PeerTube-powered website.
Zaïd, Catherin, Solar and yourself can make your own rules, your own Terms of Services (for example, one can imagine a MeowTube where dogs videos are strictly forbidden 🙂).
YouTube's excesses are a good exemple: its hoster, Google/Alphabet, can impose its "Robocopyright" (the ContentID system) or its tools to index, recommend and spotlight videos; and those tools seem as unfair as they are obscure.
With PeerTube, <strong>you can choose the hoster of your videos according to his terms of services</strong>, his moderation policy, his federation choices…
As you don't have a tech giant facing you, you might be able to talk with you hoster if you ever have a problem, a need, or something you want.
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<p>
The other big advantage of PeerTube is that your hoster doesn't have to fear the sudden success of one of your videos.
Indeed, PeerTube broadcasts videos with the protocol <ahref="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitTorrent">WebTorrent</a>.
If hundreds of people are watching your video at the same time, their browsers automatically send bits of your video to other viewers.
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<p>
Before this peer-to-peer broadcast, successful videographers (or videos that make the buzz) were doomed to be hosted by a web giant whose infrastructure can handle millions of simultaneous views…
If other people are watching a PeerTube video at the same time as you, as long as your tab remains open, your browser shares bits of that video and you participate in a healthier use of the Internet.
Of course, PeerTube's video player adapts to your situation: if your installation does not allow peer-to-peer playback (corporate network, recalcitrant browser, etc.) video playback will be done in the classic way.
But above all, <strong>PeerTube treats you like a person, not as a product</strong> that it has to track, profile, and lock in video loops to better sell your available brain time.
Thus, the <ahref="https://github.com/Chocobozzz/PeerTube">source code</a> (the recipe) of the PeerTube software is open, making its operation transparent.
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<p>
<strong>
PeerTube is not only open-source: it's free (as in free speech).
</strong>
Its free license guarantees our fundamental freedoms as users.
It is this respect for our freedoms that allows Framasoft to invite you to contribute to this software, and many evolutions (innovative comment system, etc.) have already been blown away by some of you.
But this is just the beginning, PeerTube is not (yet) perfect, and many features are missing.
We intend to continue to improve it to release a version 1 by the end of 2018.
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<p>
March 2018 thus represents the birth of the PeerTube federations: the more this software will be used and supported, the more people will use it and contribute to it, and the faster it will evolve towards a concrete alternative to platforms such as YouTube.
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<p>
Nevertheless, the ambition remains to be <strong>a free and decentralized alternative</strong>: the goal of an alternative is not to replace, but to propose something else, with different values, in parallel to what already exists.
For example, in France, discriminatory content <ahref="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lois_contre_le_racisme_et_les_discours_de_haine">is prohibited</a> and may be <ahref="http://stop-discrimination.gouv.fr/agir/ne-pas-laisser-faire-les-recours">reported to the authorities</a>.
PeerTube allows users to report problematic videos, and each administrator must then apply its moderation in accordance with its terms and conditions and the law.
The federation system, for its part, allows hosts to decide with whom they want to connect, depending on the types of content or the moderation policies of others.
For now, the solution proposed to people who upload videos is to use the "support" button under the video. This button displays a frame in which people who upload videos can display text, images, and links freely. For example, it's possible to put a link to Patreon, Tipeee, Paypal, Liberapay (or any other solution) there. Other examples: put a postal address if you'd like to receive physical thank-you cards, put a logo of your enterprise, a link to support a non-profit organisation…
We did not go any further because to favour one technical solution would be to impose, in the code, a political vision of cultural sharing and its financing. All financial solutions are possible and treated equally in PeerTube.
Including those that would allow you to create (and choose) the monetization tools that interest you!
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<p>
Nevertheless, it is worth remembering that the vast majority of videos published on the Internet (and even on YouTube) are shared for non-market purposes: remuneration is a tool, but not necessarily a main or essential purpose.
There's a complete <ahref="https://instances.joinpeertube.org/">list of instances here</a>, and a list of those that are <ahref="https://joinpeertube.org/en/#getting-started">open to registration here</a>.
The <ahref="https://github.com/Chocobozzz/PeerTube/blob/develop/support/doc/production.md">installation guide is here</a> (only in English, for the moment).
We recommend not to install PeerTube on low-end hardware or behind a weak connection (for example, on a RaspberryPi with an ADSL connection): this could slow down all federations.
You can <ahref="https://github.com/Chocobozzz/PeerTube/issues">create an issue</a>, contribute to it, or even start contributing by choosing the <ahref="https://github.com/Chocobozzz/PeerTube/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen+label%3A%22good+first+issue%22">easy problems for those who begin</a>.
If you want to help out in another way, or if you want to request a feature, come discuss it on our <ahref="https://framacolibri.org/c/peertube">contribution forum</a>.
Why does PeerTube use the ActivityPub federation protocol? Why not IPFS / d.tube / Steemit?
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<p>
PeerTube uses ActivityPub because this federation protocol is recommended by the W3C and is already used by the federated social network Mastodon.
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<p>
IPFS is a great technology, but it still seems very (too!) young for large scale streaming of large files.
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<p>
After discussing it on our forum, we feel that d.tube is not free or open source, because publishing only compiled code hinders freedom of modification.
D.tube is based on Steem for "remuneration", it is a choice, but Steem is <ahref="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steemit#Criticism">widely criticized</a> as <ahref="https://steemit.com/steemit/@docdelux/30-days-of-steemit-here-is-my-criticism">highly centralized</a>, and suspiciously <ahref="https://steemit.com/steemit/@thecryptonews/psa-constructive-criticism-the-ugly-truth-behind-steemit">resembles a Ponzi system</a>.
