youtube-dl

 

Download videos from youtube in node.js using youtube-dl.

If you're only interested in downloading only from youtube, you should consider using pure Javascript youtube downloading module.

Installation

With npm do:

`` sh
npm install youtube-dl
`

Usage

$3

` js
const fs = require('fs')
const youtubedl = require('youtube-dl')

const video = youtubedl('http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90AiXO1pAiA',
// Optional arguments passed to youtube-dl.
['--format=18'],
// Additional options can be given for calling child_process.execFile().
{ cwd: __dirname })

// Will be called when the download starts.
video.on('info', function(info) {
console.log('Download started')
console.log('filename: ' + info._filename)
console.log('size: ' + info.size)
})

video.pipe(fs.createWriteStream('myvideo.mp4'))
`

It will produce an output that looks like the following when ran.

`bash
Got video info
saving to T-ara - Number Nine - MV - 티아라-Seku9G1kT0c.mp4
100.00%
`

$3

` js
const youtubedl = require('youtube-dl')
const fs = require('fs')
const output = 'myvideo.mp4'

let downloaded = 0

if (fs.existsSync(output)) {
downloaded = fs.statSync(output).size
}

const video = youtubedl('https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=179MiZSibco',

// Optional arguments passed to youtube-dl.
['--format=18'],

// start will be sent as a range header
{ start: downloaded, cwd: __dirname })

// Will be called when the download starts.
video.on('info', function(info) {
console.log('Download started')
console.log('filename: ' + info._filename)

// info.size will be the amount to download, add
let total = info.size + downloaded
console.log('size: ' + total)

if (downloaded > 0) {
// size will be the amount already downloaded
console.log('resuming from: ' + downloaded)

// display the remaining bytes to download
console.log('remaining bytes: ' + info.size)
}
})

video.pipe(fs.createWriteStream(output, { flags: 'a' }))

// Will be called if download was already completed and there is nothing more to download.
video.on('complete', function complete(info) {
'use strict'
console.log('filename: ' + info._filename + ' already downloaded.')
})

video.on('end', function() {
console.log('finished downloading!')
})
`

It will produce an output that looks like the following when ran.

Output:

` sh
[~/nodejs/node-youtube-dl/example]$ node resume.js
Download started
filename: 1 1 1-179MiZSibco.mp4
size: 5109213
^C
`

` sh
[~/nodejs/node-youtube-dl/example]$ node resume.js
Download started
filename: 1 1 1-179MiZSibco.mp4
size: 5109213
resuming from: 917504
remaining bytes: 4191709
finished downloading
`

$3

` js
const youtubedl = require('youtube-dl')

const url = 'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKsjaOqDXgg'
// Optional arguments passed to youtube-dl.
const options = ['--username=user', '--password=hunter2']

youtubedl.getInfo(url, options, function(err, info) {
if (err) throw err

console.log('id:', info.id)
console.log('title:', info.title)
console.log('url:', info.url)
console.log('thumbnail:', info.thumbnail)
console.log('description:', info.description)
console.log('filename:', info._filename)
console.log('format id:', info.format_id)
})
`

Running that will produce something like

` sh
id: WKsjaOqDXgg
title: Ace Rimmer to the Rescue
url: http://r5---sn-p5qlsn7e.c.youtube.com/videoplayback?ms=au&ip=160.79.125.18&cp=U0hWTFVQVl9FTENONl9NSlpDOjgtU1VsODlkVmRH&id=58ab2368ea835e08&source=youtube&expire=1377558202&factor=1.25&key=yt1&ipbits=8&mt=1377534150&itag=34&sver=3&upn=-rGWz2vYpN4&fexp=912306%2C927900%2C919395%2C926518%2C936203%2C913819%2C929117%2C929121%2C929906%2C929907%2C929922%2C929127%2C929129%2C929131%2C929930%2C925726%2C925720%2C925722%2C925718%2C929917%2C906945%2C929919%2C929933%2C912521%2C932306%2C913428%2C904830%2C919373%2C930803%2C908536%2C904122%2C938701%2C936308%2C909549%2C900816%2C912711%2C904494%2C904497%2C900375%2C906001&sparams=algorithm%2Cburst%2Ccp%2Cfactor%2Cid%2Cip%2Cipbits%2Citag%2Csource%2Cupn%2Cexpire&mv=m&burst=40&algorithm=throttle-factor&signature=ABD3A847684AD9B39331E567568D3FA0DCFA4776.7895521E130A042FB3625A17242CE3C02A4460B7&ratebypass=yes
thumbnail: https://i1.ytimg.com/vi/WKsjaOqDXgg/hqdefault.jpg
description: An old Red Dwarf eposide where Ace Rimmer saves the Princess Bonjella.
filename: Ace Rimmer to the Rescue-WKsjaOqDXgg.flv
format id: 34
`

You can use an array of urls to produce an array of response objects with matching array index (e.g. the 1st response object will match the first url etc...)

` js
const youtubedl = require('youtube-dl')

const url1 = 'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKsjaOqDXgg'
const url2 = 'https://vimeo.com/6586873'

youtubedl.getInfo([url1, url2], function(err, info) {
if (err) throw err

console.log('title for the url1:', info[0].title)
console.log('title for the url2:', info[1].title)
})
`

$3

` js
const youtubedl = require('youtube-dl')

const video = youtubedl('http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90AiXO1pAiA',
// Optional arguments passed to youtube-dl.
['--proxy', 'http://ip:port'],
`

$3

` js
const youtubedl = require('youtube-dl')
const url = 'https://youtu.be/PizwcirYuGY'

const options = {
// Write automatic subtitle file (youtube only)
auto: false,
// Downloads all the available subtitles.
all: false,
// Subtitle format. YouTube generated subtitles
// are available ttml or vtt.
format: 'ttml',
// Languages of subtitles to download, separated by commas.
lang: 'en',
// The directory to save the downloaded files in.
cwd: __dirname,
}

youtubedl.getSubs(url, options, function(err, files) {
if (err) throw err

console.log('subtitle files downloaded:', files)
})
`

$3

` js
const youtubedl = require('youtube-dl')
const url = 'https://youtu.be/PizwcirYuGY'

const options = {
// Downloads available thumbnail.
all: false,
// The directory to save the downloaded files in.
cwd: __dirname,
}

youtubedl.getThumbs(url, options, function(err, files) {
if (err) throw err

console.log('thumbnail file downloaded:', files)
})
`

For more usage info on youtube-dl and the arguments you can pass to it, do youtube-dl -h or go to the [youtube-dl documentation][].

$3

` js

const path = require('path')
const fs = require('fs')
const youtubedl = require('youtube-dl')

function playlist(url) {

'use strict'
const video = youtubedl(url)

video.on('error', function error(err) {
console.log('error 2:', err)
})

let size = 0
video.on('info', function(info) {
size = info.size
let output = path.join(__dirname + '/', size + '.mp4')
video.pipe(fs.createWriteStream(output))
})

let pos = 0
video.on('data', function data(chunk) {
pos += chunk.length
// size should not be 0 here.
if (size) {
let percent = (pos / size * 100).toFixed(2)
process.stdout.cursorTo(0)
process.stdout.clearLine(1)
process.stdout.write(percent + '%')
}
})

video.on('next', playlist)
}

playlist('https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEFA9E9D96CB7F807')

`

Note node-youtube-dl does not currently support playlist urls with the "list" format:
`
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=&list=
`
Please use instead the equivalent "playlist" format as the example below:
`
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=
`
The following snippet could be of use when making this format conversion.
`
function toSupportedFormat(url) {
if (url.includes("list=")) {
var playlistId = url.substring(url.indexOf('list=') + 5);
return "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=" + playlistId;
}
return url;
}

var url = "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shF8Sv-OswM&list=PLzIUZKHPb1HbqsPMIFdE0My54iektZrNU"
url = toSupportedFormat(url);
console.log(url) // "https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzIUZKHPb1HbqsPMIFdE0My54iektZrNU"
`

$3

` js
const youtubedl = require('youtube-dl')

youtubedl.getExtractors(true, function(err, list) {
console.log('Found ' + list.length + ' extractors')

for (let i = 0 i < list.length i++) {
console.log(list[i])
}
})
`

Will print something like

` sh
Found 521 extractors
1up.com
220.ro
24video
3sat
`

$3

` js
const youtubedl = require('youtube-dl')

console.log(youtubedl.getYtdlBinary())
`

$3

`js
const path = require('path')
const youtubedl = require('youtube-dl')

const customBinaryPath = path.resolve('custom/path/to-binary')

youtubedl.setYtdlBinary(customBinaryPath)
`

$3

This module doesn't have youtube-dl download the video. Instead, it uses the url key from the --dump-json CLI option to create a node stream. That way, it can be used like any other node stream.

If that, or none of the above support your use case, you can use youtubedl.exec() to call youtube-dl however you like.

` js
const youtubedl = require('youtube-dl')

youtubedl.exec(url, ['-x', '--audio-format', 'mp3'], {}, function(err, output) {
if (err) throw err

console.log(output.join('\n'))
})
`

$3

Since the youtube-dl binary is updated regularly, you can run npm run update to check for and download any updates for it. You can also require youtube-dl/lib/downloader in your app if you'd like to place youtube-dl binary in a specific directory and control when it gets updates.

` js
const downloader = require('youtube-dl/lib/downloader')

downloader('path/to-binary', function error(err, done) {
'use strict'
if (err) throw err

console.log(done)
})
`

This script parses a couple of flags from argv:

* --platform=windows forces downloading the Windows version of youtube-dl.
* --overwrite overwrites the existing youtube-dl executable if it exists.

$3

If you are using promises there's now a promise version, if you don't pass a function as second argument:

` js
const downloader = require('youtube-dl/lib/downloader')

downloader('path/to-binary')
.then((message) => {
console.log(message);
}).catch((err) => {
console.log("err", err);
exit(1);
});

`

$3

Youtube-dl looks for certain environment variables to aid its operations. If Youtube-dl doesn't find them in the environment during the installation step, a lowercased variant of these variables will be used from the npm config or yarn config.

- YOUTUBE\_DL\_DOWNLOAD\_HOST - overwrite URL prefix that is used to download the binary file of Youtube-dl. Note: this includes protocol and might even include path prefix. Defaults to https://yt-dl.org/downloads/latest/youtube-dl.

$3

Tests are written with vows

` sh
npm test
``

License

MIT

[youtube-dl]: http://rg3.github.com/youtube-dl/
[youtube-dl documentation]: http://rg3.github.com/youtube-dl/documentation.html