A new version of PeerTube is available to users, and this open-source, decentralized, non-commercial federated video-sharing platform has been announced.
PeerTube, started in 2017, is an alternative to centralized platforms like YouTube, Dailymotion, and Vimeo, and allows users to create instances that – while they can be connected to form networks – are run independently and therefore not subject to a company’s moderation policy or algorithms.
In addition, PeerTube is not dependent on advertising and does not track its users across the internet.
Version 7.1 brings changes that PeerTube developers say focus on improving the discoverability of instances (“platforms”) but also the user interface.
To this end, About pages have been redesigned for better clarity and accessibility of an instance’s key features. The new version also seeks to make it easier to understand how some elements of the Fediverse work.
PeerTube is a part of the Fediverse and utilizes the ActivityHub networking protocol.
Users will now be able to click on the “platform” address to see the origin of a video and other information.
v7.1 also brings better support for Podcasting 2.0 (a set of standards and features that increase the functionality of open RSS). The previous version of PeerTube already integrated Podcasting 2.0, which allows creators to integrate transcripts and chapters into their episodes.
Now videos on a PeerTube instance can be released as podcasts that users of podcast apps like AntennaPod, etc., can subscribe to, and stream both video and audio – in those apps.
Such podcast feeds are now also compatible with Apple Podcasts, meaning that content creators can submit their channels to Apple.
PeerTube and the decentralized social network Mastodon share ActivityHub as their protocol, with the video platform at this point introducing Mastodon account linking verification. These links will appear in a PeerTube user’s channel description or profile.
Some of the other changes in v.7.1 include a new “view protocol,” which allows for more simultaneous viewers, as well as improved playback stability thanks to an update to the library that powers the P2P feature.
A France-based non-profit, Framasoft, is currently behind the development of PeerTube.
