Archivarix Tube Search

Tool Description: A free OSINT tool for discovering historical versions of YouTube videos using archived snapshots from archive data.

Archivarix Tube Search

Quick Overview

URL

https://tube.archivarix.net/

What it does

Finds deleted YouTube videos and recovers their metadata, thumbnails, and subtitles from archive data.

How to use it

Search by YouTube URL, video ID, channel or keywords and review available archived snapshots.

Cost

Partially free with paid plans for full functionality.

Account required

No.

Google Analytics, a language preference cookie, and an Internet Archive functional cookie.

Ownership

Owned and operated by David Archivarix, based in the Czech Republic.

Use in Reporting

Supports historical YouTube investigations, evidence preservation and content verification.

What does Archivarix Tube Search do?

Archivarix Tube Search helps investigators locate historical copies of videos, channels and metadata that may no longer be available on YouTube.

The tool is particularly useful when videos have been deleted, made private, restricted or removed for policy reasons. Depending on what’s been archived, you may be able to recover video pages, titles, descriptions, thumbnails, channel information and, in some cases, playable video content.

The lowdown: The tool doesn't store YouTube videos themselves, it searches publicly available web archives to recover information about videos that are no longer available on YouTube.

How to Use:

1. Search using a YouTube URL, video ID, channel name or keywords, then review the available archived results, including historical video pages, metadata and snapshots.

2. Record relevant findings and corroborate them using other OSINT sources such as the Internet Archive, YouTube metadata tools and social media archives.

You can also view this tutorial here.

Cost

Free
Partially Free
Paid

Partially free with paid plans ranging from $9-19 for full functionality.

Data Processing

Account Required:

Cookies:

The site uses a minimal set of cookies consisting primarily of Google Analytics, a language preference cookie, and an Internet Archive functional cookie related to donation management.

You can find the terms of service here.

Use in Reporting

Archivarix Tube Search helps journalists and researchers recover and verify YouTube content that has been deleted, made private, or region-blocked.

Typical reporting uses:

Verifying what was actually said in a video that has since been removed (via archived subtitles and metadata).
Reconstructing the publication history of a channel that was terminated or wiped its content.
Documenting narrative changes when videos are quietly deleted after public attention.
Retrieving original titles, descriptions.
Uploading dates and view counts of removed videos for citation in investigations of disinformation, extremism, scams, or public statements.

Capabilities

Limitations

Searches 1.5B+ YouTube video records archived since 2005.

Only finds video content that has been archived and is publicly accessible.

Recovered historical metadata including titles and descriptions.

Archived videos are not always playable.

Supports timeline analysis of YouTube activity.

Metadata may be incomplete or missing.

Provides an easier interface for searching archived YouTube records.

Search coverage is not comprehensive across all YouTube content.

Summary

Archivarix Tube Search is most useful in the discovery and verification stages of the OSINT workflow: establishing that a video existed, what it contained, when it was published, and what was said in it — with archived sources that can be cited as evidence.

Note: Findings should be corroborated against the original archive snapshots, which the tool links directly.

Ownership

Owned and operated by David Archivarix, based in the Czech Republic.

Ethical Considerations

Some videos are deleted for legitimate reasons (privacy takedowns, consent withdrawal, safety of persons shown).
Consider potential harm before republishing recovered content or metadata.
Recognise that archived content may not represent the final version published on YouTube.
Avoid assuming the absence of archived content means it never existed.