youtube-viewer

A lightweight application for searching and playing videos from YouTube.

youtube-viewer

• command-line interface to YouTube.

gtk-youtube-viewer

• GTK+ interface to YouTube.

AVAILABILITY

• Alpine Linux: doas apk add youtube-viewer
• Arch Linux (AUR): https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/gtk-youtube-viewer-git/
• Arch Linux (AUR) (CLI only): https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/youtube-viewer-git/
• Fedora: https://copr.fedorainfracloud.org/coprs/itsuki/Youtube-viewer/
• FreeBSD: https://www.freshports.org/multimedia/gtk-youtube-viewer
• Frugalware: https://frugalware.org/packages/203103
• Gentoo: https://packages.gentoo.org/package/net-misc/youtube-viewer
• OSX: brew install thekevjames/youtube-viewer/youtube-viewer
• Puppy Linux: https://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=76835
• Slackware: https://slackbuilds.org/repository/14.2/multimedia/youtube-viewer/
• Solus: sudo eopkg it youtube-viewer
• Ubuntu/Linux Mint: sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8
• Void Linux: sudo xbps-install youtube-viewer
• OpenSUSE: https://build.opensuse.org/package/show/home:juzbun:kde-plasma/youtube-viewer

INSTALLATION

To install youtube-viewer, run:

    perl Build.PL
    sudo ./Build installdeps
    sudo ./Build install

To install gtk-youtube-viewer along with youtube-viewer, run:

    perl Build.PL --gtk
    sudo ./Build installdeps
    sudo ./Build install

TRY

For trying the latest commit of youtube-viewer, without installing it, execute the following commands:

    cd /tmp
    wget https://github.com/trizen/youtube-viewer/archive/master.zip -O youtube-viewer-master.zip
    unzip -n youtube-viewer-master.zip
    cd youtube-viewer-master/bin
    ./youtube-viewer

DEPENDENCIES

For youtube-viewer:

• libwww-perl
• LWP::Protocol::https
• Data::Dump
• JSON
• yt-dlp or youtube-dl.

For gtk-youtube-viewer:

• Gtk3
• File::ShareDir
• + the dependencies required by youtube-viewer.

Optional dependencies:

• Local cache support: LWP::UserAgent::Cached
• Better STDIN support (+history): Term::ReadLine::Gnu
• Faster JSON deserialization: JSON::XS
• Fixed-width formatting: Unicode::LineBreak or Text::CharWidth

PACKAGING

To package this application, run the following commands:

    perl Build.PL --destdir "/my/package/path" --installdirs vendor [--gtk]
    ./Build test
    ./Build install --install_path script=/usr/bin

LOGGING IN

Starting with version 3.7.4, youtube-viewer provides the ~/.config/youtube-viewer/api.json file, which allows setting an YouTube API key and the client ID/SECRET values:

{
    "key":           "API_KEY",
    "client_id":     "CLIENT_ID",
    "client_secret": "CLIENT_SECRET"
}

• Prerequisite: you must create a Google Platform project. Following the below steps should prompt you to create one if you do not already have one.
• Enable the YouTube Data v3 API on your project: navigate here and click "Enable" (if you see a blue "Manage" button, it's already enabled).
• Replace API_KEY with your YouTube API key. Create a new key here by clicking on "Create Credentials" > "API Key".
• Optionally, in order to log in, replace CLIENT_ID and CLIENT_SECRET with your native client ID and client secret values, by creating a new OAuth 2.0 Client ID here: click "Create Credentials" > "OAuth client ID", then select "TV and Limited Input devices" (tutorial -- may be outdated).

The project must have the following scope enabled: https://www.googleapis.com/auth/youtube

Also, in order to log in, grant access to the project in: https://console.cloud.google.com/apis/credentials/consent

See also: #285, #308.

PIPE-VIEWER

pipe-viewer is a fork of straw-viewer, which parses the YouTube website directly, and thus it does not require an YouTube API key.

REVIEWS

• [EN] YOUTUBE VIEWER: A COMPLETE YOUTUBE CLIENT FOR LINUX [UBUNTU PPA]
  • https://www.webupd8.org/2015/02/youtube-viewer-complete-youtube-client.html
• [EN] YOUTUBE-VIEWER – ALTERNATIVE WAY TO INTERACT WITH YOUTUBE
  • https://www.ossblog.org/youtube-viewer-alternative-way-watch-youtube/
• [EN] A YouTube CLI for Mac
  • https://blog.johnkrauss.com/installing-youtube-viewer/
• [EN] Gtk Youtube Viewer (for lots of pups)
  • https://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=76835
• [ES] Este es el mejor cliente de YouTube para Linux
  • https://rootear.com/ubuntu-linux/cliente-youtube-linux
• [ES] YouTube Viewer: busca, reproduce y descarga vídeos de YouTube desde el escritorio
  • https://www.linuxadictos.com/youtube-viewer-busca-reproduce-y-descarga-videos-de-youtube-desde-el-escritorio.html
• [HU] GTK Youtube Viewer
  • https://linuxmint.hu/blog/2018/09/gtk-youtube-viewer
• [JP] GTK Youtube Viewer 試してみた
  • https://tamahamster.blogspot.com/2016/06/type-p-debiandog-gtk-youtube-viewer.html
• [PT] YouTube Viewer: um completo cliente YouTube para Linux
  • https://www.edivaldobrito.com.br/youtube-viewer-um-cliente-completo/
• [RO] youtube-viewer
  • https://stressat.blogspot.com/2012/01/youtube-viewer.html
• [RU] Стримим и кастим youtube и не только
  • https://habr.com/ru/post/534926/
• [RU] Установить клиент Youtube Viewer в Linux
  • https://compizomania.blogspot.com/2015/02/youtube-viewer-linux.html
• [RU] Youtube Viewer / GTK Youtube Viewer
  • https://zenway.ru/page/gtk-youtube-viewer
• [TR] Youtube Viewer Nedir? Nasıl Kurulur? (Ubuntu/Linux Mint)
  • https://www.sistemlinux.org/2017/05/youtube-viewer-nedir-nasil-kurulur.html

VIDEO REVIEWS

• [EN] Youtube-Viewer -- Search and Play Youtube Video - Linux CLI
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnJ67oAxVQ4
• [EN] youtube-viewer - Watch, Read and Post Youtube Comments - Linux CLI
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CNRRdyFwsY
• [EN] Gentoo in Review - youtube-viewer CLI client
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzN2scO025I
• [EN] GTK Youtube Viewer : A Complete Youtube Desktop Client For Linux Mint
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5b12tvpe3E
• [EN] GTK-YouTube Viewer for Puppy Linux
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UH3dPspqtRM

SUPPORT AND DOCUMENTATION

After installing, you can find documentation with the following commands:

man youtube-viewer
perldoc WWW::YoutubeViewer

LICENSE AND COPYRIGHT

Copyright (C) 2012-2025 Trizen

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of either: the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; or the Artistic License.

See https://dev.perl.org/licenses/ for more information.