The internet is full of video platforms like YouTube, Vimeo, and Dailymotion, but a new project wants to change the game. PeerTube is a P2P, decentralized, and open-source YouTube alternative. It allows you to upload and watch videos without relying on a single server.
Developed by Chocobozzz, the project started in 2015. He describes it as "a decentralized video streaming platform using P2P (BitTorrent) directly in the web browser with WebTorrent". The platform is still in beta and currently has only seven videos in its catalog. Check out the demo below:
https://vimeo.com/164881662How PeerTube works
PeerTube is a project run by a single organization, so it doesn't have the support of big companies and servers like the most popular sites. For example, if a video got many views, the bandwidth wouldn't be enough and would overload the server. That's why PeerTube uses a P2P protocol to limit server load, using WebTorrent to upload and watch videos from the browser. Similar to seeding torrents, bandwidth is distributed among users.
The future of PeerTube
PeerTube is sponsored by Framasoft, a non-profit organization that promotes and develops free software. You can also use the platform's open-source code. As mentioned, PeerTube is just getting started, with the service active online so you can try it, uploading and watching videos to see how you like it. It won't be on par with YouTube, but it's a viable alternative that could have a promising future if the community embraces it. The official site is PeerTube.
