Changelog & Releases

Browser IndexedDB Audio Caching: Full client-side persistent audio caching using IndexedDB (yt_audio_cache_db), background downloading complete tracks while streaming immediately.

Zero-Latency Pause & Resume: Seamlessly switches paused tracks to local Blob URLs so resuming after minutes or hours happens instantaneously (< 10ms) without socket timeouts or yt-dlp re-extraction delays.

Local Retention for Previous 3 Songs: Maintains the current track and up to the previous 3 played songs in local storage with automatic LRU pruning for instant, zero-network rewind.

Self-Healing Stream Recovery: Automatically recovers playback using locally cached audio Blobs if network proxy connections drop or stall while paused.

Proactive Queue Pre-caching: Pre-caches upcoming queue tracks into IndexedDB when current playback crosses 80% duration for gapless transitions.

Search Results Smart Playlist Isolation: Playing a song from search results now starts that song cleanly as Track 0 and automatically generates 25 related/matching songs instead of cloning raw search results into the queue.

Lock-Screen & Headset Cache Resume: Updated MediaSession hooks so lock-screen and headphone play/pause controls benefit from instant cache-resume.

SponsorBlock Integration (Auto-Skip & Manual Controls): Integrated the community-powered SponsorBlock API to automatically skip non-music intros, story dialogues, paid sponsor reads, outros, and subscribe reminders with an instant Undo toast notification.

Configurable SponsorBlock Modal: Interactive settings modal with master toggle, Auto-Skip vs Manual Prompt mode selection, granular category checkboxes, and live track segments list.

Timeline Scrubber Segment Markers: Color-coded segment stripes rendered on both desktop and mobile fullscreen seekbars (Cyan for dialogues, Green for sponsors, Purple for outros).

Dedicated Open Source Credits: Added public credits acknowledging SponsorBlock, yt-dlp, FFmpeg, Next.js, and Lucide Icons across documentation and landing pages.

High-Performance Server Caching: Cached SponsorBlock segments for 1 hour in /api/sponsorblock with silent 404 fallbacks preventing unnecessary outbound requests.

PWA Screen-Off Continuous Autoplay: Pre-buffers feed queues directly into active memory and executes synchronous playback transitions upon track completion, ensuring uninterrupted playback when the device screen is locked.

Unified Responsive SeoNavbar: Implemented glassmorphic top navigation with interactive route indicators, one-tap player launch, and animated mobile drawer with hardware back-button support.

MIT Open Source License: Added official permissive MIT license and enriched open-source project metadata.

Mobile Viewport Clamping (100dvh): Pinned app shell and scrollable containers to dynamic viewport heights, eliminating double scrollbars on iOS Safari and mobile Chrome.

Landing Page Mobile Polish: Fixed timeline node dot alignment on /changelog, added horizontal swipe hint to comparison table on /features, and optimized typography on /about.

Mobile Listing Y-Axis Overflow: Resolved overflow issue when playing tracks on mobile by clamping card title heights and hiding overflowing overlays.

Dedicated SEO Landing Pages: Launched /about (Why YTaudio exists) and /features (detailed feature matrix & comparison table against YouTube Free and Spotify).

Comprehensive Google SEO Suite: Added dynamic sitemap.xml, robots.txt, JSON-LD structured schemas (WebApplication, AboutPage, ItemPage), and Web App Manifest (manifest.webmanifest).

High-Resolution Favicons & Apple Touch Icons: Added scalable SVG favicon and 180x180 Apple Touch icons with signature brand gradients.

Live SSE Download Progress & Auto-Cleanup: Real-time Server-Sent Events progress reporting during MP3 and MP4 conversion, with automated temporary file cleanup.

Optional YouTube Cookie Injection: Configurable YTDLP_COOKIES_PATH and YTDLP_COOKIES_BROWSER in .env to prevent bot check interruptions.

Dynamic Canonical URL Handling: Configured NEXT_PUBLIC_SITE_URL environment variable to ensure production metadata matches yta.indalsingh.dev.

PostCSS Syntax Compliance: Resolved :global pseudo-class syntax issue in DownloadModal.css for standard CSS builds.

SSR Preloader Skeleton: Implemented critical inline preloader in root layout to completely eradicate initial hydration flash.

Modular Component Architecture: Refactored monolithic components into dedicated CSS and isolated React modules (Navbar, PlayerBar, QueueDrawer, AudioCard, etc.).

Context Hook Decomposition: Extracted usePlayerStorage, usePlayerMediaSession, and usePlayerKeyboard out of PlayerContext to boost re-render efficiency.

Playlist Overfetch Prevention: Optimized ytsearch batch size to eliminate unnecessary overhead during quick category browsing.

Lock-Screen & Background Playback: Full HTML5 MediaSession API integration providing lock-screen track title, artist, artwork, and scrub controls.

Real-Time Spectrum Visualizer: Hardware-accelerated frequency visualizer rendered via HTML5 Canvas and Web Audio API.

Direct YouTube Link Importer: Paste any YouTube, youtu.be, or Shorts link to play or download immediately without searching.

Up Next & Rewind Playlist Drawer: Sliding queue drawer with track reordering and persistent localStorage playback memory.

Initial Launch of YTaudio: Pure audio-first streaming extracted from YouTube using high-performance yt-dlp and FFmpeg pipelines.

Smart Autocomplete Search: Live suggestions as you type with instant debouncing and recent search chips.

Dark Cyberpunk Glassmorphism UI: Aesthetic neon gradients, responsive drawer layouts, and custom audio controls.