youtube-dl

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

I also made a pure Javascript youtube downloading module. The reason I'm maintaining this one is because it supports a lot more video sites besides youtube.

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

Installation

With npm do:

npm install youtube-dl

Usage

Downloading videos

varfs=require('fs');varyoutubedl=require('youtube-dl');varvideo=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.

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

Resuming partially downloaded videos

varyoutubedl=require('./');varfs=require('fs');varoutput='myvideo.mp4';vardownloaded=0;if(fs.existsSync(output)){downloaded=fs.statSync(output).size;}varvideo=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, addvartotal=info.size+downloaded;console.log('size: '+total);if(downloaded>0){// size will be the amount already downloadedconsole.log('resuming from: '+downloaded);// display the remaining bytes to downloadconsole.log('remaining bytes: '+info.size);}});video.pipe(fs.createWriteStream('myvideo.mp4',{flags: 'a'}));// Will be called if download was already completed and there is nothing more to download.video.on('complete',functioncomplete(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:

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

[jay@macpro ~/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!
[jay@macpro ~/nodejs/node-youtube-dl/example]$

Getting video information

varyoutubedl=require('youtube-dl');varurl='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKsjaOqDXgg';// Optional arguments passed to youtube-dl.varoptions=['--username=user','--password=hunter2'];youtubedl.getInfo(url,options,function(err,info){if(err)throwerr;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

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...)

varyoutubedl=require('youtube-dl');varurl1='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKsjaOqDXgg';varurl2='https://vimeo.com/6586873';youtubedl.getInfo([url1,url2],function(err,info){if(err)throwerr;console.log('title for the url1:',info[0].title);console.log('title for the url2:',info[1].title);});

Downloading subtitles

varyoutubedl=require('youtube-dl');varurl='https://youtu.be/PizwcirYuGY';varoptions={// Write automatic subtitle file (youtube only)auto: false,// Downloads all the available subtitles.all: false,// 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)throwerr;console.log('subtitle files 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.

Downloading playlists

varpath=require('path');varfs=require('fs');varytdl=require('youtube-dl');functionplaylist(url){'use strict';varvideo=ytdl(url);video.on('error',functionerror(err){console.log('error 2:',err);});varsize=0;video.on('info',function(info){size=info.size;varoutput=path.join(__dirname+'/',size+'.mp4');video.pipe(fs.createWriteStream(output));});varpos=0;video.on('data',functiondata(chunk){pos+=chunk.length;// `size` should not be 0 here.if(size){varpercent=(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');

Getting the list of extractors

varyoutubedl=require('youtube-dl');youtubedl.getExtractors(true,function(err,list){console.log('Found '+list.length+' extractors');for(vari=0;i<list.length;i++){console.log(list[i]);}});

Will print something like

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

Call the youtube-dl binary directly

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 ytdl.exec() to call youtube-dl however you like.

ytdl.exec(url,['-x','--audio-format','mp3'],{},function(err,output){if(err)throwerr;console.log(output.join('\n'));});

Update

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 ../lib/downloader in your app if you'd like to place youtube-dl binary in a specific directory and control when it gets updates.

vardownloader=require('../lib/downloader');downloader('path/to-binary',functionerror(err,done){'use strict';if(err){returnconsole.log(err.stack);}console.log(done);});

Tests

Tests are written with vows

npm test

License

MIT