StorLite is a Chrome extension designed to combat the storage bloat caused by auto-loading YouTube embeds. It intelligently replaces these embeds with lightweight placeholders, allowing users to choose when to load videos. This approach helps manage Chrome's storage, especially with its site partitioning feature, which can lead to repeated YouTube data across various websites.

• Blocks auto-loading YouTube embeds: Prevents YouTube players from loading automatically in the background.

• Lightweight placeholder: Replaces embeds with a minimal placeholder to save resources.

• User-controlled video loading: Users can choose to open videos in Chrome's side panel or allow the embed on the current page when desired.

• Manages Chrome storage: Addresses the issue of YouTube partitioned storage accumulating across different sites.

• Privacy-focused: Processes embeds locally and does not collect or send browsing data.

• Donation support: Users can donate to support the project, with donors receiving GitHub access.

StorLite works by detecting standard YouTube and youtube-nocookie embed iframes. It then replaces the automatic player load with a placeholder. Users can still play videos intentionally, either in the side panel or by allowing the embed on the page. The extension does not delete existing cookies or log users out, focusing solely on reducing future automatic loads. While Chrome's storage partitioning is a privacy feature to reduce cross-site tracking, StorLite offers a solution at the embed layer to manage the noticeable side effect of bloat.