1# yt-dlp_alexwlchan
2
3This is a personal wrapper around [yt-dlp](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp) that downloads a video with thumbnails and subtitles, converts to my preferred formats, then prints some key information in a consistent JSON format.
4
5```console
6$ yt-dlp_alexwlchan.py "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUQaGhPdlxs"
7{
8  "id": "TUQaGhPdlxs",
9  "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUQaGhPdlxs",
10  "title": "\"new york city, manhattan, people\" - Free Public Domain Video",
11  "description": "All videos uploaded to this channel are in the Public Domain: Free for use by anyone for any purpose without restriction. #PublicDomain",
12  "date_uploaded": "2022-03-25T01:10:38Z",
13  "video_path": "\uff02new york city, manhattan, people\uff02 - Free Public Domain Video [TUQaGhPdlxs].mp4",
14  "thumbnail_path": "\uff02new york city, manhattan, people\uff02 - Free Public Domain Video [TUQaGhPdlxs].jpg",
15  "subtitle_path": null,
16  "channel": {
17    "id": "UCDeqps8f3hoHm6DHJoseDlg",
18    "name": "Public Domain Archive",
19    "url": "https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDeqps8f3hoHm6DHJoseDlg",
20    "avatar_path": "publicdomainarchive3052.png"
21  },
22  "site": "youtube"
23}
24```
25
26I have other scripts that know how to read this format, and it allows me to consolidate all my video-downloading logic in one place.
27Other scripts can call this script and get the title or description "for free".
28
29## What it does
30
31*   Downloads the video, thumbnail, and subtitles to a temporary directory
32*   Convert the video to MP4 and the thumbnail to JPEG (my preferred formats)
33*   Gets some info about the video (title, description) and channel (name, URL, avatar URL)
34*   Prints all that info in a convenient JSON object
35
36## Installation
37
38Clone the repo, create a virtualenv, and install dependencies:
39
40```console
41$ git clone https://github.com/alexwlchan/yt-dlp_alexwlchan.git
42$ cd yt-dlp_alexwlchan
43$ python3 -m venv .venv
44$ pip install -r requirements.txt
45```
46
47Then save the following script somewhere in your PATH (replacing the `cd` with the root to your checkout):
48
49```shell
50#!/usr/bin/env bash
51
52set -o errexit
53set -o nounset
54
55cd ~/repos/yt-dlp_alexwlchan
56source .venv/bin/activate
57python3 yt-dlp_alexwlchan.py "$@"
58```
59
60## Supported sites
61
62yt-dlp supports a wide range of site, but I only map YouTube and Instagram with this tool.
63
64## Can other people use this?
65
66You're welcome to, but I wouldn't recommend it.
67Partly because I don't guarantee long-term stability or support, partly because you'll have different preferences to me.
68
69Instead, use this script as a starting point to write your own variant.
70
71## Why did you pick this name?
72
73yt-dlp uses this name for its [release variants](https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp?tab=readme-ov-file#release-files) (e.g. `yt-dlp_linux`, `yt-dlp_win`, `yt-dlp_macos`).
74This is my variant!
75
76I'm not a yt-dlp contributor; this isn't endorsed by or affiliated with yt-dlp.
77It's just my wrapper around their project.