@meso No, invidious is not pointless - it's useful for searching for videos without needing to execute proprietary JavaScript.

You can also use it to watch videos without google being able to tell that you're watching the video (as google doesn't get your IP address).

google was the party that destroyed the archival opportunities - it would be trivial for them to allow for archiving, but instead google intentionally sabotages the ability to archive as much as possible.