Yoober

A privacy-focused desktop media app that creates better closed captions using existing subtitle tracks or OpenAI Whisper running locally or through the OpenAI API.

ElectronTypeScriptSQLiteOpenAI Whisperyt-dlpffmpeg

Desktop App

Yoober

A privacy-focused desktop media app that creates better closed captions using existing subtitle tracks or OpenAI Whisper running locally or through the OpenAI API. Free, MIT-licensed, and maintained by Jay Simons.

Electron TypeScript MIT License Version 1.0.3

App Screenshot

Yoober desktop application showing a local video library, in-app playback, closed captions, and transcription controls

Library view — browse downloads, play in-app with captions, and manage subtitles with Whisper or site tracks.

About

Yoober is a free, MIT-licensed desktop application built for people who need clearer, more useful video captions, including viewers with hearing impairments. It downloads or imports media, organizes it in a local library, and plays it with timed captions. When good subtitles are unavailable, users can generate transcripts with OpenAI Whisper on their own computer or through the OpenAI API.

The application supports caption search, playlists, tags, editable metadata, multiple transcript formats, background download and transcription queues, and packaged macOS and Windows releases. User media and library data stay on the local machine. If a user chooses the OpenAI API, Yoober protects the API key with the operating system keychain through Electron's secure storage.

✨ Highlights

🖥️
Cross-platform desktop app — Built and maintained as an Electron application for macOS and Windows with signed, notarized installers and in-app updates.
🎙️
Whisper transcription — Uses local OpenAI Whisper or the OpenAI API to generate TXT, SRT, VTT, and JSON transcripts with CUDA, Apple Silicon Metal, or CPU acceleration.
📚
Local media library — SQLite-backed library with caption search, playlists, tags, thumbnails, and metadata editing.
▶️
Caption-aware player — HTML5 video playback with timed captions, fullscreen, keyboard controls, repeat, and A–B looping.
⬇️
Media downloads — Bundles yt-dlp and ffmpeg for downloads and conversion from sites supported by yt-dlp, with safe yt-dlp updates and rollback to the bundled version.
🔒
Privacy-first — Media, captions, playlists, and library data stay on the user's machine. Optional OpenAI API keys are stored in the OS keychain via Electron secure storage.

🛠️ Technology Stack

Electron TypeScript SQLite OpenAI Whisper OpenAI API HTML5 video yt-dlp ffmpeg macOS Windows
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