youtubedl-android

Android library wrapper for yt-dlp (formerly youtube-dl) executable

Credits

• youtubedl-java by sapher, youtubedl-android adds android compatibility to youtubedl-java.

Sample app

Debug apk for testing can be downloaded from the releases page

If you wish to use config file in the download option by using this command --config-location you must create a file named config.txt inside youtubedl-android directory and add the commands for example.

--no-mtime

-o /sdcard/Download/youtubedl-android/%(title)s.%(ext)s

-f "bestvideo[ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]/best[ext=mp4]/best"

Checkout dvd, a video downloader app based on this library.

Also take a look at Seal, another video/audio downloader app which demonstrates a more advanced and customized use of this library.

Installation

Gradle

val youtubedlAndroid = "0.18.1"

repositories {
    mavenCentral()
}

dependencies {
    implementation("io.github.junkfood02.youtubedl-android:library:$youtubedlAndroid")
    implementation("io.github.junkfood02.youtubedl-android:ffmpeg:$youtubedlAndroid")
    implementation("io.github.junkfood02.youtubedl-android:aria2c:$youtubedlAndroid") // optional
}

• Set android:extractNativeLibs="true" in your app's manifest.
• Use abiFilters 'x86', 'x86_64', 'armeabi-v7a', 'arm64-v8a' in app/build.gradle, see sample app.
• Use abi splits to reduce apk size, see sample app.
• On Android 10 (API 29), set android:requestLegacyExternalStorage="true".
• On Android 10+ (API 30 or higher), due to Android's Scoped Storage changes, apps only have the direct access to Download/ and Documents/ . And you can only download the videos into these two directories, see related issue.

Usage

• yt-dlp executable and python 3.8 are bundled in the library.
• Initialize library, preferably in onCreate.

try {
    YoutubeDL.getInstance().init(this);
} catch (YoutubeDLException e) {
    Log.e(TAG, "failed to initialize youtubedl-android", e);
}

• Downloading / custom command (A detailed example can be found in the sample app)

    File youtubeDLDir = new File(Environment.getExternalStoragePublicDirectory(Environment.DIRECTORY_DOWNLOADS), "youtubedl-android");
    YoutubeDLRequest request = new YoutubeDLRequest("https://vimeo.com/22439234");
    request.addOption("-o", youtubeDLDir.getAbsolutePath() + "/%(title)s.%(ext)s");
    YoutubeDL.getInstance().execute(request, (progress, etaInSeconds) -> {
    System.out.println(String.valueOf(progress) + "% (ETA " + String.valueOf(etaInSeconds) + " seconds)");
    });

• Stopping a previously started download process

    YoutubeDLRequest request = new YoutubeDLRequest("https://vimeo.com/22439234");
    final String processId = "MyProcessDownloadId";
    YoutubeDL.getInstance().execute(request, (progress, etaInSeconds) -> {
    System.out.println(String.valueOf(progress) + "% (ETA " + String.valueOf(etaInSeconds) + " seconds)");
    }, processId);
    ...
    YoutubeDL.getInstance().destroyProcessById(processId);

• Get stream info (equivalent to --dump-json of yt-dlp)

    VideoInfo streamInfo = YoutubeDL.getInstance().getInfo("https://vimeo.com/22439234");
    System.out.println(streamInfo.getTitle());

• Get a single playable link containing video+audio

    YoutubeDLRequest request = new YoutubeDLRequest("https://youtu.be/Pv61yEcOqpw");
    request.addOption("-f", "best");
    VideoInfo streamInfo = YoutubeDL.getInstance().getInfo(request);
    System.out.println(streamInfo.getUrl());

• yt-dlp supports myriad different options which be seen here

• yt-dlp binary can be updated from within the library (A example can be found in the sample app)

    YoutubeDL.getInstance().updateYoutubeDL(this, updateChannel); // UpdateChannel.NIGHTLY or UpdateChannel.STABLE

FFmpeg

If you wish to use ffmpeg features of yt-dlp (e.g. --extract-audio), include and initialize the ffmpeg library.

try {
    YoutubeDL.getInstance().init(this);
    FFmpeg.getInstance().init(this);
} catch (YoutubeDLException e) {
    Log.e(TAG, "failed to initialize youtubedl-android", e);
}

Aria2c

This library can make use of aria2c as the external downloader. include and initialize the aria2c library.

try {
    YoutubeDL.getInstance().init(this);
    FFmpeg.getInstance().init(this);
    Aria2c.getInstance().init(this);
} catch (YoutubeDLException e) {
    Log.e(TAG, "failed to initialize youtubedl-android", e);
}

and options for the request as below:

request.addOption("--downloader", "libaria2c.so");

Docs

• Though not required for just using this library, documentation on building python for android can be seen here. Same for ffmpeg here. Alternatively, you can use pre-built packages from here (android5+) or here (android7+).
• youtubedl-android uses lazy extractors based build of yt-dlp - ytdlp-lazy (formerly youtubedl-lazy)
• To build aria2 you need libc++, c-ares, openssl, libxml2, zlib, ibiconv it can be found in here (android5+) or here (android7+). then follow the method used to build python or ffmpeg.

Donate

You can support the project by donating to below addresses.