For a long time now, developers have been making sites and extensions to tweak YouTube so that you can fix some of its common annoyances. Some others focus on making YouTube more fun and light-hearted, like it once was years ago.

Here are a few apps that use smart ideas for a better YouTube experience. Use captions to quickly browse through a video, to intelligently take out sponsored segments, and even to check out the best videos from a decade ago.

1. YTCutter: Download a Specific Portion as Video, GIF, or Audio

YTCutter UI.

YTCutter is a single tool with multiple purposes. Perhaps you don't want to download a full YouTube video; you might only need a small clip. With YTCutter, you can select the portion that you need and just download that.

The web app is stellar in terms of how user-friendly and smooth it is. Copy and paste a YouTube URL and it will immediately start playing. Use the Start field for when you want the clip to begin and the End field for your big finish. You'll be able to see how many seconds the clip is; a handy Preview button lets you check it out before you download it.

The trimmed clip can be downloaded as a video file (MP4), a GIF file, or as an audio file (MP3). The MP4 file will download at the resolution that you watch the video at, so select high-def beforehand if that's what you're after.

All in all, YTCutter is among the smoothest and slickest third-party YouTube apps that we've seen. We hope that it sticks around for a long time.

2. YouTube Caption: Get the Full Text of Closed Captions

YouTube closed caption converter.

Many YouTube videos feature closed captions, whether added by the uploader or generated by YouTube. YouTube Caption extracts these as readable text, complete with built-in timestamps. Copy and paste the video link into the box and press the search icon. After a few seconds, you'll see the video's preview with all of its captions listed below.

It's a brilliant way to scrub through a long video, such as a TED Talk or a presentation. If you're learning something through a YouTube lecture, this tool gives you the full text and everything shared during the lesson. It's the easiest way to take notes. While you're reading, click any line to jump directly to that point in the video.

This tool only works with videos that have captions, but it's a great resource if you're a fast reader.

Related: Top Apps to Help the Blind and Visually Impaired Navigate the Internet Better

3. YouTube Rabbit Hole: Disable Distractions for a Productive YouTube

YouTube Rabbit Hole, hiding content.

Somebody sends you a link to a YouTube video. You click it and you watch it. The automated suggestion for the next video starts; the sidebar recommends similar things you might enjoy. Suddenly, an entire afternoon has been wasted on YouTube. YouTube is designed to be a time sink. This extension exists to put an end to that.

YouTube Rabbit Hole blanks out suggested content, hides comments and livestream chats, and disables your suggested videos. Instead, all you see are cute bunnies.

The extension also ensures that you can visit the homepage without distraction, just in case you actually need to use YouTube for a legitimate reason, but the trending and subscription pages are gone. This tool simplifies the navigation drawer so you only end up watching what you need to watch. It also removes banner-style ads, as well.

With the Rabbit Hole in place, it's just you, the video, and the search box. Forget about everything else. It's time to trim the fat and improve your YouTube experience.

Download: YouTube Rabbit Hole for Chrome (Free)

4. SponsorBlock: Skip Sponsored Segments Automatically

youtube sponser block extension

If you want to skip the wait before each video, you could try YouTube ad-blockers or subscribe to YouTube Premium. Neither of these services will protect you from other ways that YouTube is monetized, like in-video sponsored content added to the video by the creator, however.

SponsorBlock is an extension that automatically skips those "this video is sponsored by..." parts. It's shocking how well the tool works on popular channels. It's as useful as the "Skip Intro" feature of Netflix and Amazon Prime.

The developer notes that this add-on is completely open-source. It uses a combination of algorithms and an upvote-downvote system to identify sponsored content. When you're watching a video, you'll get an alert if the extension skips a sponsorship. You can choose to "unskip" it and watch the ad, report it, or do nothing to register the skip as an upvote. If you come across a sponsored segment that wasn't skipped, tap the extension icon and mark it to help other users avoid it themselves.

Download: SponsorBlock for Chrome | Firefox (Free)

5. YouTube Decade: The Biggest Video of the Day, 10 Years Ago

The YouTube Decade homepage.

YouTube Decade is a much cooler way to browse YouTube than the default homepage, prone to content overload during peak hours and days of the week. This website showcases the most popular videos among those uploaded ten years ago today.

Every day, YouTube Decade updates itself with eight new videos. Categories include music, comedy, film and animation, entertainment, news and politics, sports, pets and animals, and gaming.

That's it. Eight videos, no more, and no less. If you're checking on September 27, 2019, the videos will be chosen from those uploaded on September 27, 2009.

You can browse through the site by going back one day at a time. There will be times when the videos are from regional YouTube picks, so you might not even know the language. Given their popularity, though, they're usually worth a watch.

Make YouTube Awesome Again

The best part about YouTube isn't the number of videos that it hosts. It's the third-party developers and the tools and apps they create that make the experience so much more exciting than the official one. To make YouTube the best that it can be, we invite you to give all the above tools a shot yourself.