# About

##### **What is it ?** 

*Source: [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PeerTube)*

<section data-mw-section-id="0" id="bkmrk-peertube-is-a-free-a">**PeerTube** is a [free and open-source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_and_open-source "Free and open-source"), [decentralized](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decentralization "Decentralization"), [ActivityPub](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ActivityPub "ActivityPub") [federated](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federation_(information_technology) "Federation (information technology)") video platform. It can use [peer-to-peer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer-to-peer "Peer-to-peer") technology to reduce load on individual servers when videos get popular.

Started in 2017 by a programmer known as *Chocobozzz*, development of PeerTube is now supported by the French non-profit [Framasoft](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Framasoft "Framasoft").<sup class="mw-ref reference" data-mw="{&quot;name&quot;:&quot;ref&quot;,&quot;attrs&quot;:{&quot;name&quot;:&quot;auto&quot;},&quot;body&quot;:{&quot;id&quot;:&quot;mw-reference-text-cite_note-auto-4&quot;}}" id="bkmrk-%5B4%5D">[<span class="mw-reflink-text" id="bkmrk-%5B4%5D-2"><span class="cite-bracket" id="bkmrk-%5B">\[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket" id="bkmrk-%5D">\]</span></span>](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PeerTube#cite_note-auto-4)</sup> The aim is to provide an alternative to centralized platforms such as [YouTube](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube "YouTube"), [Vimeo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vimeo "Vimeo"), and [Dailymotion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dailymotion "Dailymotion").

As an ActivityPub platform, PeerTube is part of the federated network known as the [Fediverse](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fediverse "Fediverse").

</section><section aria-labelledby="Operation" data-mw-section-id="1" id="bkmrk-">
</section>##### **Documentation**

[![image.png](https://shapps.deternet.org/uploads/images/gallery/2026-10/scaled-1680-/3RuddKZlsOd4vuGB-image.png)](https://docs.joinpeertube.org)

### Why create an account?

As you've probably noticed, creating an account is not necessary to watch videos on Tube Free.   
However, creating an account on Tube Free will allow you to:

<div _ngcontent-ng-c2463467046="" class="why" id="bkmrk-comment-on-videos-su">

- **Comment** on videos
- **Subscribe** to channels and receive notifications of new videos
- Have access to your **watch history**

</div>#### Do you use Mastodon, ActivityPub or an RSS feed aggregator?

You can already follow Tube Free using your favorite tool.