A developer has created yt-media-storage, an open-source tool that stores files on YouTube by encoding them into lossless video. The project, which has 412 stars on GitHub, converts any file into a FFV1/MKV video using 4K resolution at 30 FPS, then decodes it back to the original file. It supports both command-line and graphical interfaces.

Built with C++23 and Qt6, the tool uses Wirehair fountain codes for redundancy and optional XChaCha20-Poly1305 encryption via libsodium. Users can encode single files or process batches through a queue system with real-time progress tracking. The project includes a CI/CD pipeline for building both CLI and GUI versions.

The tool requires CMake 3.22, FFmpeg, libsodium, OpenMP, and Qt6. Installation instructions are provided for Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch Linux, macOS, and Windows. While the approach is novel, users should consider YouTube's terms of service and storage limits when using this method for file backup.