diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index de538915..411ec769 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -38,10 +38,11 @@ jobs:
       matrix:
         stable: [true]
         crystal:
-          - 1.9.2
           - 1.10.1
           - 1.11.2
           - 1.12.1
+          - 1.13.2
+          - 1.14.0
         include:
           - crystal: nightly
             stable: false
@@ -51,6 +52,11 @@ jobs:
         with:
           submodules: true
 
+      - name: Install required APT packages
+        run: |
+          sudo apt install -y libsqlite3-dev 
+        shell: bash
+
       - name: Install Crystal
         uses: crystal-lang/install-crystal@v1.8.0
         with:
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 15991668..f9892e17 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -5,6 +5,12 @@
 
 ### Full list of pull requests merged since the last release (newest first)
 
+* Add "Filipino (auto-generated)" to the list of caption languages ([#4995], by @SamantazFox)
+* Makefile: Add MT option to enable the 'preview_mt' flag ([#4993], by @SamantazFox)
+* SigHelper: Reconnect to signature helper ([#4991], thanks @Fijxu)
+* Fix player menus hiding onHover ready ([#4750], thanks @giacomocerquone)
+* Use connection pools when requesting images from YouTube ([#4326], thanks @syeopite)
+* Add support for using Invidious through a HTTP Proxy ([#4270], thanks @syeopite)
 * Search: Fix 'youtu.be' URLs in sanitizer ([#4894], by @SamantazFox)
 * Ameba: Disable Style/RedundantNext rule ([#4888], thanks @syeopite)
 * Playlists: Fix 'invalid byte sequence' error when subscribing ([#4887], thanks @DmitrySandalov)
@@ -22,7 +28,10 @@
 
 [#4122]: https://github.com/iv-org/invidious/pull/4122
 [#4193]: https://github.com/iv-org/invidious/pull/4193
+[#4270]: https://github.com/iv-org/invidious/pull/4270
+[#4326]: https://github.com/iv-org/invidious/pull/4326
 [#4652]: https://github.com/iv-org/invidious/pull/4652
+[#4750]: https://github.com/iv-org/invidious/pull/4750
 [#4850]: https://github.com/iv-org/invidious/pull/4850
 [#4862]: https://github.com/iv-org/invidious/pull/4862
 [#4863]: https://github.com/iv-org/invidious/pull/4863
@@ -33,6 +42,9 @@
 [#4928]: https://github.com/iv-org/invidious/pull/4928
 [#4930]: https://github.com/iv-org/invidious/pull/4930
 [#4942]: https://github.com/iv-org/invidious/pull/4942
+[#4991]: https://github.com/iv-org/invidious/pull/4991
+[#4993]: https://github.com/iv-org/invidious/pull/4993
+[#4995]: https://github.com/iv-org/invidious/pull/4995
 
 
 ## v2.20240825.2 (2024-08-26)
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index d4d7db26..418daafd 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -7,6 +7,11 @@ STATIC   := 0
 
 NO_DBG_SYMBOLS := 0
 
+# Enable multi-threading.
+# Warning: Experimental feature!!
+# invidious is not stable when MT is enabled.
+MT := 0
+
 
 FLAGS ?=
 
@@ -19,6 +24,10 @@ ifeq ($(STATIC), 1)
   FLAGS += --static
 endif
 
+ifeq ($(MT), 1)
+  FLAGS += -Dpreview_mt
+endif
+
 
 ifeq ($(NO_DBG_SYMBOLS), 1)
   FLAGS += --no-debug
diff --git a/assets/css/player.css b/assets/css/player.css
index 50c7a748..9cb400ad 100644
--- a/assets/css/player.css
+++ b/assets/css/player.css
@@ -68,6 +68,7 @@
 
 .video-js.player-style-youtube .vjs-menu-button-popup .vjs-menu {
   margin-bottom: 2em;
+  padding-top: 2em
 }
 
 .video-js.player-style-youtube .vjs-progress-control .vjs-progress-holder, .video-js.player-style-youtube .vjs-progress-control {height: 5px;
diff --git a/config/config.example.yml b/config/config.example.yml
index 2dbbe4d2..eeb4501e 100644
--- a/config/config.example.yml
+++ b/config/config.example.yml
@@ -173,6 +173,17 @@ https_only: false
 ##
 #force_resolve:
 
+##
+## Configuration for using a HTTP proxy
+##
+## If unset, then no HTTP proxy will be used.
+## 
+http_proxy:
+  user:
+  password:
+  host:
+  port:
+
 
 ##
 ## Use Innertube's transcripts API instead of timedtext for closed captions
diff --git a/locales/en-US.json b/locales/en-US.json
index 0f968c8a..339613d2 100644
--- a/locales/en-US.json
+++ b/locales/en-US.json
@@ -287,6 +287,7 @@
     "Esperanto": "Esperanto",
     "Estonian": "Estonian",
     "Filipino": "Filipino",
+    "Filipino (auto-generated)": "Filipino (auto-generated)",
     "Finnish": "Finnish",
     "French": "French",
     "French (auto-generated)": "French (auto-generated)",
diff --git a/mocks b/mocks
index 11ec372f..b55d58de 160000
--- a/mocks
+++ b/mocks
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit 11ec372f72747c09d48ffef04843f72be67d5b54
+Subproject commit b55d58dea94f7144ff0205857dfa70ec14eaa872
diff --git a/shard.lock b/shard.lock
index af3a96d7..73678aab 100644
--- a/shard.lock
+++ b/shard.lock
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ shards:
 
   backtracer:
     git: https://github.com/sija/backtracer.cr.git
-    version: 1.2.1
+    version: 1.2.2
 
   db:
     git: https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal-db.git
@@ -24,6 +24,10 @@ shards:
     git: https://github.com/petoem/inotify.cr.git
     version: 1.0.3
 
+  http_proxy:
+    git: https://github.com/mamantoha/http_proxy.git
+    version: 0.10.3
+
   kemal:
     git: https://github.com/kemalcr/kemal.git
     version: 1.1.2
@@ -54,7 +58,7 @@ shards:
 
   spectator:
     git: https://github.com/icy-arctic-fox/spectator.git
-    version: 0.10.4
+    version: 0.10.6
 
   sqlite3:
     git: https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal-sqlite3.git
diff --git a/shard.yml b/shard.yml
index 33d57e8f..db204551 100644
--- a/shard.yml
+++ b/shard.yml
@@ -33,6 +33,9 @@ dependencies:
   inotify:
     github: petoem/inotify.cr
     version: 1.0.3
+  http_proxy:
+    github: mamantoha/http_proxy
+    version: ~> 0.10.3
 
 development_dependencies:
   spectator:
diff --git a/spec/invidious/videos/regular_videos_extract_spec.cr b/spec/invidious/videos/regular_videos_extract_spec.cr
index c647c1d1..f96703f6 100644
--- a/spec/invidious/videos/regular_videos_extract_spec.cr
+++ b/spec/invidious/videos/regular_videos_extract_spec.cr
@@ -17,8 +17,8 @@ Spectator.describe "parse_video_info" do
     # Basic video infos
 
     expect(info["title"].as_s).to eq("I Gave My 100,000,000th Subscriber An Island")
-    expect(info["views"].as_i).to eq(126_573_823)
-    expect(info["likes"].as_i).to eq(5_157_654)
+    expect(info["views"].as_i).to eq(220_226_287)
+    expect(info["likes"].as_i).to eq(6_870_691)
 
     # For some reason the video length from VideoDetails and the
     # one from microformat differs by 1s...
@@ -48,12 +48,12 @@ Spectator.describe "parse_video_info" do
 
     expect(info["relatedVideos"].as_a.size).to eq(20)
 
-    expect(info["relatedVideos"][0]["id"]).to eq("Hwybp38GnZw")
-    expect(info["relatedVideos"][0]["title"]).to eq("I Built Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory!")
+    expect(info["relatedVideos"][0]["id"]).to eq("krsBRQbOPQ4")
+    expect(info["relatedVideos"][0]["title"]).to eq("$1 vs $250,000,000 Private Island!")
     expect(info["relatedVideos"][0]["author"]).to eq("MrBeast")
     expect(info["relatedVideos"][0]["ucid"]).to eq("UCX6OQ3DkcsbYNE6H8uQQuVA")
-    expect(info["relatedVideos"][0]["view_count"]).to eq("179877630")
-    expect(info["relatedVideos"][0]["short_view_count"]).to eq("179M")
+    expect(info["relatedVideos"][0]["view_count"]).to eq("230617484")
+    expect(info["relatedVideos"][0]["short_view_count"]).to eq("230M")
     expect(info["relatedVideos"][0]["author_verified"]).to eq("true")
 
     # Description
@@ -76,11 +76,11 @@ Spectator.describe "parse_video_info" do
     expect(info["ucid"].as_s).to eq("UCX6OQ3DkcsbYNE6H8uQQuVA")
 
     expect(info["authorThumbnail"].as_s).to eq(
-      "https://yt3.ggpht.com/ytc/AL5GRJVuqw82ERvHzsmBxL7avr1dpBtsVIXcEzBPZaloFg=s48-c-k-c0x00ffffff-no-rj"
+      "https://yt3.ggpht.com/fxGKYucJAVme-Yz4fsdCroCFCrANWqw0ql4GYuvx8Uq4l_euNJHgE-w9MTkLQA805vWCi-kE0g=s48-c-k-c0x00ffffff-no-rj"
     )
 
     expect(info["authorVerified"].as_bool).to be_true
-    expect(info["subCountText"].as_s).to eq("143M")
+    expect(info["subCountText"].as_s).to eq("320M")
   end
 
   it "parses a regular video with no descrition/comments" do
@@ -99,8 +99,8 @@ Spectator.describe "parse_video_info" do
     # Basic video infos
 
     expect(info["title"].as_s).to eq("Chris Rea - Auberge")
-    expect(info["views"].as_i).to eq(10_943_126)
-    expect(info["likes"].as_i).to eq(0)
+    expect(info["views"].as_i).to eq(14_324_584)
+    expect(info["likes"].as_i).to eq(35_870)
     expect(info["lengthSeconds"].as_i).to eq(283_i64)
     expect(info["published"].as_s).to eq("2012-05-21T00:00:00Z")
 
@@ -132,14 +132,14 @@ Spectator.describe "parse_video_info" do
 
     # Related videos
 
-    expect(info["relatedVideos"].as_a.size).to eq(19)
+    expect(info["relatedVideos"].as_a.size).to eq(20)
 
-    expect(info["relatedVideos"][0]["id"]).to eq("Ww3KeZ2_Yv4")
-    expect(info["relatedVideos"][0]["title"]).to eq("Chris Rea")
-    expect(info["relatedVideos"][0]["author"]).to eq("PanMusic")
-    expect(info["relatedVideos"][0]["ucid"]).to eq("UCsKAPSuh1iNbLWUga_igPyA")
-    expect(info["relatedVideos"][0]["view_count"]).to eq("31581")
-    expect(info["relatedVideos"][0]["short_view_count"]).to eq("31K")
+    expect(info["relatedVideos"][0]["id"]).to eq("gUUdQfnshJ4")
+    expect(info["relatedVideos"][0]["title"]).to eq("Chris Rea - The Road To Hell 1989 Full Version")
+    expect(info["relatedVideos"][0]["author"]).to eq("NEA ZIXNH")
+    expect(info["relatedVideos"][0]["ucid"]).to eq("UCYMEOGcvav3gCgImK2J07CQ")
+    expect(info["relatedVideos"][0]["view_count"]).to eq("53298661")
+    expect(info["relatedVideos"][0]["short_view_count"]).to eq("53M")
     expect(info["relatedVideos"][0]["author_verified"]).to eq("false")
 
     # Description
@@ -156,11 +156,13 @@ Spectator.describe "parse_video_info" do
 
     # Author infos
 
-    expect(info["author"].as_s).to eq("ChrisReaOfficial")
+    expect(info["author"].as_s).to eq("ChrisReaVideos")
     expect(info["ucid"].as_s).to eq("UC_5q6nWPbD30-y6oiWF_oNA")
 
-    expect(info["authorThumbnail"].as_s).to be_empty
+    expect(info["authorThumbnail"].as_s).to eq(
+      "https://yt3.ggpht.com/ytc/AIdro_n71nsegpKfjeRKwn1JJmK5IVMh_7j5m_h3_1KnUUg=s48-c-k-c0x00ffffff-no-rj"
+    )
     expect(info["authorVerified"].as_bool).to be_false
-    expect(info["subCountText"].as_s).to eq("-")
+    expect(info["subCountText"].as_s).to eq("3.11K")
   end
 end
diff --git a/src/invidious.cr b/src/invidious.cr
index 7ae8237d..1f8ae251 100644
--- a/src/invidious.cr
+++ b/src/invidious.cr
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ require "kilt"
 require "./ext/kemal_content_for.cr"
 require "./ext/kemal_static_file_handler.cr"
 
+require "http_proxy"
 require "athena-negotiation"
 require "openssl/hmac"
 require "option_parser"
@@ -114,6 +115,10 @@ SOFTWARE = {
 
 YT_POOL = YoutubeConnectionPool.new(YT_URL, capacity: CONFIG.pool_size)
 
+# Image request pool
+
+GGPHT_POOL = YoutubeConnectionPool.new(URI.parse("https://yt3.ggpht.com"), capacity: CONFIG.pool_size)
+
 # CLI
 Kemal.config.extra_options do |parser|
   parser.banner = "Usage: invidious [arguments]"
diff --git a/src/invidious/config.cr b/src/invidious/config.cr
index 3ce430ec..b4930590 100644
--- a/src/invidious/config.cr
+++ b/src/invidious/config.cr
@@ -57,6 +57,15 @@ struct ConfigPreferences
   end
 end
 
+struct HTTPProxyConfig
+  include YAML::Serializable
+
+  property user : String
+  property password : String
+  property host : String
+  property port : Int32
+end
+
 class Config
   include YAML::Serializable
 
@@ -157,6 +166,8 @@ class Config
   property host_binding : String = "0.0.0.0"
   # Pool size for HTTP requests to youtube.com and ytimg.com (each domain has a separate pool of `pool_size`)
   property pool_size : Int32 = 100
+  # HTTP Proxy configuration
+  property http_proxy : HTTPProxyConfig? = nil
 
   # Use Innertube's transcripts API instead of timedtext for closed captions
   property use_innertube_for_captions : Bool = false
diff --git a/src/invidious/helpers/crystal_class_overrides.cr b/src/invidious/helpers/crystal_class_overrides.cr
index fec3f62c..3040d7a0 100644
--- a/src/invidious/helpers/crystal_class_overrides.cr
+++ b/src/invidious/helpers/crystal_class_overrides.cr
@@ -18,6 +18,40 @@ end
 class HTTP::Client
   property family : Socket::Family = Socket::Family::UNSPEC
 
+  # Override stdlib to automatically initialize proxy if configured
+  #
+  # Accurate as of crystal 1.12.1
+
+  def initialize(@host : String, port = nil, tls : TLSContext = nil)
+    check_host_only(@host)
+
+    {% if flag?(:without_openssl) %}
+      if tls
+        raise "HTTP::Client TLS is disabled because `-D without_openssl` was passed at compile time"
+      end
+      @tls = nil
+    {% else %}
+      @tls = case tls
+             when true
+               OpenSSL::SSL::Context::Client.new
+             when OpenSSL::SSL::Context::Client
+               tls
+             when false, nil
+               nil
+             end
+    {% end %}
+
+    @port = (port || (@tls ? 443 : 80)).to_i
+
+    self.proxy = make_configured_http_proxy_client() if CONFIG.http_proxy
+  end
+
+  def initialize(@io : IO, @host = "", @port = 80)
+    @reconnect = false
+
+    self.proxy = make_configured_http_proxy_client() if CONFIG.http_proxy
+  end
+
   private def io
     io = @io
     return io if io
diff --git a/src/invidious/helpers/sig_helper.cr b/src/invidious/helpers/sig_helper.cr
index 9eff852f..d7828d10 100644
--- a/src/invidious/helpers/sig_helper.cr
+++ b/src/invidious/helpers/sig_helper.cr
@@ -175,6 +175,7 @@ module Invidious::SigHelper
     @queue = {} of TransactionID => Transaction
 
     @conn : Connection
+    @uri_or_path : String
 
     @uri_or_path : String
 
@@ -201,7 +202,7 @@ module Invidious::SigHelper
                 @conn = Connection.new(@uri_or_path)
                 LOGGER.info("SigHelper: Reconnected to SigHelper!")
               rescue ex
-                LOGGER.debug("SigHelper: Reconnection to helper unsuccessful with error '#{ex.message}' retrying")
+                LOGGER.debug("SigHelper: Reconnection to helper unsuccessful with error '#{ex.message}'. Retrying")
                 sleep 500.milliseconds
                 next
               end
diff --git a/src/invidious/routes/images.cr b/src/invidious/routes/images.cr
index b6a2e110..639697db 100644
--- a/src/invidious/routes/images.cr
+++ b/src/invidious/routes/images.cr
@@ -11,29 +11,9 @@ module Invidious::Routes::Images
       end
     end
 
-    # We're encapsulating this into a proc in order to easily reuse this
-    # portion of the code for each request block below.
-    request_proc = ->(response : HTTP::Client::Response) {
-      env.response.status_code = response.status_code
-      response.headers.each do |key, value|
-        if !RESPONSE_HEADERS_BLACKLIST.includes?(key.downcase)
-          env.response.headers[key] = value
-        end
-      end
-
-      env.response.headers["Access-Control-Allow-Origin"] = "*"
-
-      if response.status_code >= 300
-        env.response.headers.delete("Transfer-Encoding")
-        return
-      end
-
-      proxy_file(response, env)
-    }
-
     begin
-      HTTP::Client.get("https://yt3.ggpht.com#{url}") do |resp|
-        return request_proc.call(resp)
+      GGPHT_POOL.client &.get(url, headers) do |resp|
+        return self.proxy_image(env, resp)
       end
     rescue ex
     end
@@ -61,27 +41,10 @@ module Invidious::Routes::Images
       end
     end
 
-    request_proc = ->(response : HTTP::Client::Response) {
-      env.response.status_code = response.status_code
-      response.headers.each do |key, value|
-        if !RESPONSE_HEADERS_BLACKLIST.includes?(key.downcase)
-          env.response.headers[key] = value
-        end
-      end
-
-      env.response.headers["Connection"] = "close"
-      env.response.headers["Access-Control-Allow-Origin"] = "*"
-
-      if response.status_code >= 300
-        return env.response.headers.delete("Transfer-Encoding")
-      end
-
-      proxy_file(response, env)
-    }
-
     begin
-      HTTP::Client.get("https://#{authority}.ytimg.com#{url}") do |resp|
-        return request_proc.call(resp)
+      get_ytimg_pool(authority).client &.get(url, headers) do |resp|
+        env.response.headers["Connection"] = "close"
+        return self.proxy_image(env, resp)
       end
     rescue ex
     end
@@ -101,26 +64,9 @@ module Invidious::Routes::Images
       end
     end
 
-    request_proc = ->(response : HTTP::Client::Response) {
-      env.response.status_code = response.status_code
-      response.headers.each do |key, value|
-        if !RESPONSE_HEADERS_BLACKLIST.includes?(key.downcase)
-          env.response.headers[key] = value
-        end
-      end
-
-      env.response.headers["Access-Control-Allow-Origin"] = "*"
-
-      if response.status_code >= 300 && response.status_code != 404
-        return env.response.headers.delete("Transfer-Encoding")
-      end
-
-      proxy_file(response, env)
-    }
-
     begin
-      HTTP::Client.get("https://i9.ytimg.com#{url}") do |resp|
-        return request_proc.call(resp)
+      get_ytimg_pool("i9").client &.get(url, headers) do |resp|
+        return self.proxy_image(env, resp)
       end
     rescue ex
     end
@@ -165,8 +111,7 @@ module Invidious::Routes::Images
     if name == "maxres.jpg"
       build_thumbnails(id).each do |thumb|
         thumbnail_resource_path = "/vi/#{id}/#{thumb[:url]}.jpg"
-        # This can likely be optimized into a (small) pool sometime in the future.
-        if HTTP::Client.head("https://i.ytimg.com#{thumbnail_resource_path}").status_code == 200
+        if get_ytimg_pool("i9").client &.head(thumbnail_resource_path, headers).status_code == 200
           name = thumb[:url] + ".jpg"
           break
         end
@@ -181,29 +126,28 @@ module Invidious::Routes::Images
       end
     end
 
-    request_proc = ->(response : HTTP::Client::Response) {
-      env.response.status_code = response.status_code
-      response.headers.each do |key, value|
-        if !RESPONSE_HEADERS_BLACKLIST.includes?(key.downcase)
-          env.response.headers[key] = value
-        end
-      end
-
-      env.response.headers["Access-Control-Allow-Origin"] = "*"
-
-      if response.status_code >= 300 && response.status_code != 404
-        return env.response.headers.delete("Transfer-Encoding")
-      end
-
-      proxy_file(response, env)
-    }
-
     begin
-      # This can likely be optimized into a (small) pool sometime in the future.
-      HTTP::Client.get("https://i.ytimg.com#{url}") do |resp|
-        return request_proc.call(resp)
+      get_ytimg_pool("i").client &.get(url, headers) do |resp|
+        return self.proxy_image(env, resp)
       end
     rescue ex
     end
   end
+
+  private def self.proxy_image(env, response)
+    env.response.status_code = response.status_code
+    response.headers.each do |key, value|
+      if !RESPONSE_HEADERS_BLACKLIST.includes?(key.downcase)
+        env.response.headers[key] = value
+      end
+    end
+
+    env.response.headers["Access-Control-Allow-Origin"] = "*"
+
+    if response.status_code >= 300
+      return env.response.headers.delete("Transfer-Encoding")
+    end
+
+    return proxy_file(response, env)
+  end
 end
diff --git a/src/invidious/videos/caption.cr b/src/invidious/videos/caption.cr
index 484e61d2..c811cfe1 100644
--- a/src/invidious/videos/caption.cr
+++ b/src/invidious/videos/caption.cr
@@ -123,6 +123,7 @@ module Invidious::Videos
       "Esperanto",
       "Estonian",
       "Filipino",
+      "Filipino (auto-generated)",
       "Finnish",
       "French",
       "French (auto-generated)",
diff --git a/src/invidious/yt_backend/connection_pool.cr b/src/invidious/yt_backend/connection_pool.cr
index 9bb4eba4..c7c4c675 100644
--- a/src/invidious/yt_backend/connection_pool.cr
+++ b/src/invidious/yt_backend/connection_pool.cr
@@ -1,17 +1,6 @@
-def add_yt_headers(request)
-  request.headers.delete("User-Agent") if request.headers["User-Agent"] == "Crystal"
-  request.headers["User-Agent"] ||= "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/129.0.0.0 Safari/537.36"
-
-  request.headers["Accept-Charset"] ||= "ISO-8859-1,utf-8;q=0.7,*;q=0.7"
-  request.headers["Accept"] ||= "text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,image/avif,image/webp,image/apng,*/*;q=0.8,application/signed-exchange;v=b3;q=0.7"
-  request.headers["Accept-Language"] ||= "en-US,en;q=0.9"
-
-  # Preserve original cookies and add new YT consent cookie for EU servers
-  request.headers["Cookie"] = "#{request.headers["cookie"]?}; CONSENT=PENDING+#{Random.rand(100..999)}"
-  if !CONFIG.cookies.empty?
-    request.headers["Cookie"] = "#{(CONFIG.cookies.map { |c| "#{c.name}=#{c.value}" }).join("; ")}; #{request.headers["cookie"]?}"
-  end
-end
+# Mapping of subdomain => YoutubeConnectionPool
+# This is needed as we may need to access arbitrary subdomains of ytimg
+private YTIMG_POOLS = {} of String => YoutubeConnectionPool
 
 struct YoutubeConnectionPool
   property! url : URI
@@ -26,12 +15,16 @@ struct YoutubeConnectionPool
 
   def client(&)
     conn = pool.checkout
+    # Proxy needs to be reinstated every time we get a client from the pool
+    conn.proxy = make_configured_http_proxy_client() if CONFIG.http_proxy
+
     begin
       response = yield conn
     rescue ex
       conn.close
-      conn = HTTP::Client.new(url)
 
+      conn = HTTP::Client.new(url)
+      conn.proxy = make_configured_http_proxy_client() if CONFIG.http_proxy
       conn.family = CONFIG.force_resolve
       conn.family = Socket::Family::INET if conn.family == Socket::Family::UNSPEC
       conn.before_request { |r| add_yt_headers(r) } if url.host == "www.youtube.com"
@@ -54,6 +47,21 @@ struct YoutubeConnectionPool
   end
 end
 
+def add_yt_headers(request)
+  request.headers.delete("User-Agent") if request.headers["User-Agent"] == "Crystal"
+  request.headers["User-Agent"] ||= "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/128.0.0.0 Safari/537.36"
+
+  request.headers["Accept-Charset"] ||= "ISO-8859-1,utf-8;q=0.7,*;q=0.7"
+  request.headers["Accept"] ||= "text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,*/*;q=0.8"
+  request.headers["Accept-Language"] ||= "en-us,en;q=0.5"
+
+  # Preserve original cookies and add new YT consent cookie for EU servers
+  request.headers["Cookie"] = "#{request.headers["cookie"]?}; CONSENT=PENDING+#{Random.rand(100..999)}"
+  if !CONFIG.cookies.empty?
+    request.headers["Cookie"] = "#{(CONFIG.cookies.map { |c| "#{c.name}=#{c.value}" }).join("; ")}; #{request.headers["cookie"]?}"
+  end
+end
+
 def make_client(url : URI, region = nil, force_resolve : Bool = false)
   client = HTTP::Client.new(url)
 
@@ -77,3 +85,31 @@ def make_client(url : URI, region = nil, force_resolve : Bool = false, &)
     client.close
   end
 end
+
+def make_configured_http_proxy_client
+  # This method is only called when configuration for an HTTP proxy are set
+  config_proxy = CONFIG.http_proxy.not_nil!
+
+  return HTTP::Proxy::Client.new(
+    config_proxy.host,
+    config_proxy.port,
+
+    username: config_proxy.user,
+    password: config_proxy.password,
+  )
+end
+
+# Fetches a HTTP pool for the specified subdomain of ytimg.com
+#
+# Creates a new one when the specified pool for the subdomain does not exist
+def get_ytimg_pool(subdomain)
+  if pool = YTIMG_POOLS[subdomain]?
+    return pool
+  else
+    LOGGER.info("ytimg_pool: Creating a new HTTP pool for \"https://#{subdomain}.ytimg.com\"")
+    pool = YoutubeConnectionPool.new(URI.parse("https://#{subdomain}.ytimg.com"), capacity: CONFIG.pool_size)
+    YTIMG_POOLS[subdomain] = pool
+
+    return pool
+  end
+end