diff --git a/changes/2026-03-23-youtube-cookie-override.md b/changes/2026-03-23-youtube-cookie-override.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f6cf384
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changes/2026-03-23-youtube-cookie-override.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+type: changed
+area: launcher
+
+- Stopped forcing `--ytdl-raw-options=` before user-provided MPV options during YouTube playback so existing YouTube cookie integrations in user configs are no longer clobbered.
+- Reordered launcher argument application so user `--args` are appended after SubMiner’s internal YouTube defaults, preserving explicit runtime overrides for `--ytdl-raw-options-*`.
diff --git a/launcher/mpv.ts b/launcher/mpv.ts
index 406759f..161af4a 100644
--- a/launcher/mpv.ts
+++ b/launcher/mpv.ts
@@ -557,13 +557,9 @@ export async function startMpv(
   const mpvArgs: string[] = [];
   if (args.profile) mpvArgs.push(`--profile=${args.profile}`);
   mpvArgs.push(...DEFAULT_MPV_SUBMINER_ARGS);
-  if (args.mpvArgs) {
-    mpvArgs.push(...parseMpvArgString(args.mpvArgs));
-  }
-
   if (targetKind === 'url' && isYoutubeTarget(target)) {
     log('info', args.logLevel, 'Applying URL playback options');
-    mpvArgs.push('--ytdl=yes', '--ytdl-raw-options=');
+    mpvArgs.push('--ytdl=yes');
 
     if (isYoutubeTarget(target)) {
       const subtitleLangs = uniqueNormalizedLangCodes([
@@ -588,6 +584,9 @@ export async function startMpv(
       }
     }
   }
+  if (args.mpvArgs) {
+    mpvArgs.push(...parseMpvArgString(args.mpvArgs));
+  }
 
   if (preloadedSubtitles?.primaryPath) {
     mpvArgs.push(`--sub-file=${preloadedSubtitles.primaryPath}`);