The download button YouTube never gave you. Paste a link, pick MP3 or MP4, get your file.
Every "free online downloader" is a minefield of fake buttons, popups, and files you didn't ask for. This is the boring alternative: a small web app you run yourself. No ads, no sign-up, no handing your links to a stranger's server.
Under the hood it's yt-dlp — the tool that actually does the work — with a Next.js + shadcn UI on top so you never have to remember a flag.
- Audio: MP3, M4A, Opus (best quality), or best audio without conversion
- Video: MP4 720p or MP4 best quality
Requires ffmpeg for audio conversion (included in Docker image). The app uses Node as the JS runtime for yt-dlp (for full YouTube support).
If YouTube says "Sign in to confirm you're not a bot": use the optional Cookies field. Export cookies from your browser in Netscape format (e.g. with a "Get cookies.txt" extension or see yt-dlp wiki), then paste the contents into the Cookies field and run again.
npm install
npm run devRequires yt-dlp and ffmpeg on your PATH:
- macOS:
brew install yt-dlp ffmpeg - Ubuntu/Debian:
sudo apt install ffmpegand install yt-dlp from releases
Then open http://localhost:3000.
Build and run (app listens on 3000 inside the container; map to 3080 on host to avoid conflicts):
docker build -t yt-downloader .
docker run -p 3080:3000 yt-downloaderOpen http://localhost:3080.
Note: in Docker there is no browser profile, so --cookies-from-browser is skipped automatically. Paste cookies into the Cookies field instead if YouTube asks you to sign in.
See DEPLOY.md for deploying to a server.
This is a single-user, trusted-network tool. The download endpoint has no authentication and no rate limiting: anyone who can reach it can run yt-dlp on the host. Do not expose it to the public internet — keep it on localhost, a private network, or a VPN/tailnet, or put it behind an authenticating reverse proxy.
Downloading is done entirely by yt-dlp (Unlicense) with ffmpeg for conversion. This project is only a web UI around them and is not affiliated with either.
Respect the terms of service of the sites you download from, and applicable copyright law.
MIT — see LICENSE.