Set up the web viewer to browse video sites inside Obsidian and take notes the same way you already do

What you will learn

The web viewer is a core plugin in the Obsidian desktop app that lets you browse YouTube, Bilibili, Coursera, and other video sites inside Obsidian. Media Extended adds playback controls, timestamps, and screenshots on top of it. You watch the video in one pane and take notes in the other, without switching windows.

In this tutorial you will set up the Media Extended web viewer integration, open the Steve Jobs commencement speech inside it, and confirm that timestamps, screenshots, and hotkeys still work.

This tutorial assumes you have completed Your First Timestamped Note and Set Up Note-Taking Hotkeys.

The web viewer requires the Obsidian desktop app with installer version 1.11.4 or later. If your installer is older, download the latest from obsidian.md and reinstall. Learn more about installer updates.

Steps

Run the web viewer setup wizard

Open the command palette (Ctrl+P / Cmd+P) and run Open web viewer integration setup wizard, or use this quick link:

Open web viewer setup wizard

The wizard walks you through five steps. Follow them in order:

Secure installer version — If this step already shows a checkmark, move on. Otherwise, download the latest Obsidian installer from obsidian.md and reinstall.
Enable Web viewer core plugin — Click Open core plugins. Find Web viewer in the list and toggle it on. Return to the setup wizard.
Set up main daemon — Click Continue to open the daemon setup wizard.

Click Install and wait for the download to finish. The wizard connects to the module automatically. Once all steps show checkmarks, click Done.

If the wizard asks you to restart Obsidian, click Restart now — closing the vault window alone is not enough.
Enable web viewer integration — Click Enable.
Restart Obsidian — Click the restart button. Obsidian restarts and applies the changes.

After the restart, all five steps should show checkmarks. Click Done to close the wizard.

Log in to YouTube

This step is optional. You can skip it and still watch any public video.

If you have YouTube Premium, logging in gives you ad-free playback. It also lets you access private or restricted videos.

Open the command palette and run Login to media hosting services (YouTube, Bilibili, etc.). A page opens listing the supported services. Click YouTube to go to the YouTube login page.

Open the Steve Jobs speech

Open the command palette and run Web viewer: Open web viewer. A blank web viewer tab opens with an address bar at the top.

Copy this URL and paste it into the address bar, then press Enter:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc

The YouTube page loads inside Obsidian. Timestamps, screenshots, and playback controls all work with the video.

Open the media note

Click the button at the top-right corner of the web viewer tab and select Open media note.

A note opens in a split pane beside the web viewer. Place your cursor in the note.

Take a timestamp

Press play in the web viewer. Let it run to around 0:30, then click the button. A timestamp link appears in your note. Type a short annotation after it:

- [00:30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc#t=30) Dropped out of Reed College after 6 months

If you set up hotkeys in the previous tutorial, ⌘Ctrl + Shift + T does the same thing from the keyboard.

Capture a screenshot

Seek to a moment worth capturing and click the button. The plugin saves the current frame and inserts an image embed in your note:

![[attachment/mx-img-…-pt762s.webp]]

Or press ⌘Ctrl + Shift + S from the keyboard.

Try playback hotkeys

If you assigned hotkeys in Set Up Note-Taking Hotkeys, they work in the web viewer too:

Action	Hotkey
Play / pause	`⌘Ctrl` + `M`
Rewind 5 s	`⌘Ctrl` + `←`
Forward 5 s	`⌘Ctrl` + `→`

Try each one. The video responds while your cursor stays in the note.

Set the web viewer as default

Open Media Extended settings (Settings → Community plugins → Media Extended). Scroll to the Web viewer integration section.

Change Open hosted media in... from Local player to Webviewer.

Close settings. Click the button in the ribbon, paste the same URL, and press Enter:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc

The video opens in the web viewer. YouTube and Vimeo URLs from the quick switcher will now go to the web viewer instead of the embedded player.

This step is optional.

The local player shows a clean, minimal, ad-free embedded player, but may be blocked by YouTube's stricter anti-abuse detection.
The web viewer loads the full site, so you also get comments, playlists, and recommendations, but you need YouTube Premium to watch ad-free.

Next steps

Next tutorial: Organize with Media Library — import media, browse metadata, and manage your collection
Web Viewer Integration — how the web viewer works, supported sites, and local player vs web viewer tradeoffs
Download YouTube Subtitles — save subtitles from YouTube videos to your vault
Open from a Hosting Service — supported platforms and how to choose between local player and web viewer

Notes with the Web Viewer