A YouTube desktop app for Mac, Windows and Linux
Google's YouTube Help pages describe watching on a computer through a browser, and none of them names a Mac, Windows or Linux download. The official desktop route is therefore the website, which Chrome and Edge can install as an app. A Pake app does the same job in a window of its own, with options for always on top and hiding on close, but it is the same youtube.com in the system web view, so a few features need testing before you rely on it.
What Google and the browsers offer
YouTube's own help pages treat the computer as a browser. The Premium download page says that, signed in to Premium, you can download videos "using Chrome, Edge, Firefox & Opera browsers", and the movies and TV page says purchased titles play in "web browsers that support HTML5 playback". The same pages name phones, TVs and consoles as other places to watch; as of November 2026 none of them mentions a desktop app.
The route Google and Microsoft document is installing the site as an app. In Chrome, open youtube.com, choose the More menu, Cast, save, and share, then Install page as app...; Chrome's help page also says some sites show an install icon at the right end of the address bar. In Edge, per Microsoft's page, choose Settings and more ..., More tools, Apps, Install this site as an app, and pin it from edge://apps. Both keep the app inside the browser's engine, profile and sign-in, the main reason to choose them. PWA vs desktop app compares the two kinds in general.
When a Pake window makes sense
Choose Pake when you want the YouTube window separate from your browser, with a size you set, a place on top of other windows, or an app that keeps running after you close it. Pake adds nothing YouTube lacks. The player and your Premium benefits are the web client's, and ads are YouTube's: Pake does not block them. If a browser app already covers you, use it. For YouTube Music, which is a different site with its own behavior, see YouTube Music as a desktop app.
Build it with the Pake desktop app
YouTube is in the gallery under Media. On the Create tab, type its name into Paste a web address or search the apps below to start, or paste https://www.youtube.com, and click Create App. The gallery entry sets the address, name, icon and description, with no CSS or JavaScript, so it starts from Pake's defaults. Create an app describes every option, and the gallery page explains the tiles.
Two options matter for video. Always on top, under Window, keeps a small player above other windows. Hide on close, under Behavior, keeps the app running when you close the window; it is on by default on Mac and off on Windows, where it also turns on the tray icon. Change either later with Edit in My Apps and Save Changes. The desktop app runs on macOS 14 or later, on Windows x64 and ARM64, and on Arch-based Linux such as Omarchy on x86_64; see Install. Other Linux distributions use the CLI below.
Build it with the CLI
After setting up the CLI, which needs Node.js 20.9 or later and Rust 1.85 or later:
npm install -g pake-cli
pake https://www.youtube.com --name YouTubeAdd --width 1400 --height 900 for a larger starting window than the 1200 by 780 default. For a small player in the corner, use --always-on-top with a smaller size, as the always-on-top guide explains. On Windows and Linux, --hide-on-close and --show-system-tray keep the app running after you close it, while on Mac that is already the default for --hide-on-close. Web apps reopen the last page you were on; add --no-restore-last-url if you want the home page every launch. On Linux the CLI builds .AppImage plus .deb or .rpm depending on the distribution, and --targets zst gives an Arch package; the first build compiles dependencies and takes several minutes. All options are in the CLI options.
Fullscreen and picture-in-picture
Pake adds window-level fullscreen: Ctrl Cmd F on Mac and F11 on Windows and Linux toggle it, and double-clicking the title bar does the same. YouTube's own fullscreen button is handled per platform in Pake 3.17.8. On Windows it leaves the request to WebView2's native fullscreen, so the video keeps its player controls. On Mac and Linux an injected script turns the request into native window fullscreen and pins the requested element, player controls included, over the page. Test the fullscreen button and the way out (Esc, or the same shortcut) once on each system you use.
Picture-in-picture is where to be careful. Pake's docs and code have nothing for it, and the Premium benefits page describes picture-in-picture only on iOS and Android. Whether a floating video window appears in the system web view depends on the engine, so right-click the video, look for a picture-in-picture entry, and see what happens. If it is missing, --always-on-top with a small window is the substitute Pake itself offers, with the difference that it shows the whole page.
How it works underneath
A Pake app is a Tauri shell drawing the page in the system's web view: WKWebView on Mac, WebView2 on Windows and WebKitGTK on Linux. How Pake works and what WebView2 is explain the pieces. It is not a bundled Chromium, so video codecs, hardware decoding and copy protection follow what the system provides, and the same site can behave differently on three systems.
On Linux the default user agent is a Safari-style string. With WebKitGTK 2.52 or later, Pake's FAQ says it uses shared-memory rendering so the hardware acceleration video needs stays on, and older versions keep compatibility flags. If video stutters, check your WebKitGTK version first, then the FAQ's PAKE_LINUX_WEBKIT_SAFE_MODE setting (=0 when clicks do not reach the page, =1 when the window is blank).
Signing in with Google
YouTube sign-in is a Google account. Google's OAuth policy says apps must not send its sign-in requests to an embedded user-agent, and Pake's FAQ says Google may block sign-in in embedded web views whatever options you set. Whether Google accepts sign-in in this window is something to find out by trying. Keep Incognito off (--incognito on the CLI), because it keeps no sign-ins, then quit and reopen once to confirm you stay signed in. On Windows, if a sign-in pop-up goes nowhere, turn on Open new windows in the app. Passkeys and Touch ID are not available in Pake apps on Mac, so a Google account that depends on one needs its password and a second step. The details are in Google sign-in fails in a web app. If Google refuses, use the Chrome or Edge install above.
What may not work, and what to test
- Premium downloads. Google's computer page names Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Opera. A Pake window is not one of those browsers, even on Windows where WebView2 shares Edge's engine, so the Download button may not appear or may not work. Test it; the YouTube app is the other route Google's Premium pages describe.
- Purchased and rented movies. Google's system requirements page lists the latest Chrome, Firefox and Safari for movies and TV and says HD streaming is unavailable in a browser except Safari. Protected playback depends on the engine, and on Linux the WebKitGTK build, so play one purchased title on each system. No Pake setting changes that.
- Casting. Google says casting from a computer starts from the player's three-dot menu in the browser, with the computer and TV on the same Wi-Fi. Whether the button shows in a web view is untested; try it.
- Ads. YouTube's ads load as in a browser; Premium is YouTube's own way to remove them.
- Notifications. Pake bridges the page's ordinary notification calls to the system and has no handling for web push, so alerts can arrive only while the app runs; see website notifications.
Run a short test: sign in, play a video with sound, go fullscreen and back, close and reopen the app, and try the one feature you care about from the list above.
FAQ
Is there an official YouTube app for Mac, Windows or Linux?
Not in Google's help pages, which describe browsers on computers and apps on phones, TVs and consoles. Check them before downloading anything that claims to be one.
Will it play in the background when I close the window?
Only if the app keeps running (Hide on close, or --hide-on-close) and the site keeps playing in a hidden window. The site decides, so close the window once during a video and listen.
Can I use more than one Google account?
Yes, with a second app under a different name, which Add Another Account in My Apps makes for you; each app keeps its own storage. See two accounts on one website.