Self-hosted YouTube downloader (web UI for youtube-dl / yt-dlp)

NOTE: 32-bit ARM builds have been retired (a full year after other major players), as new Node versions don't support them, and continued security updates and dependencies require new Node versions. Please migrate to a 64-bit OS to continue receiving MeTube upgrades.

Web GUI for youtube-dl (using the yt-dlp fork) with playlist support. Allows you to download videos from YouTube and dozens of other sites.

docker run -d -p 8081:8081 -v /path/to/downloads:/downloads ghcr.io/alexta69/metube

version: "3"
services:
  metube:
    image: ghcr.io/alexta69/metube
    container_name: metube
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "8081:8081"
    volumes:
      - /path/to/downloads:/downloads

Certain values can be set via environment variables, using the -e parameter on the docker command line, or the environment: section in docker-compose.

• UID: user under which MeTube will run. Defaults to 1000.
• GID: group under which MeTube will run. Defaults to 1000.
• UMASK: umask value used by MeTube. Defaults to 022.
• DEFAULT_THEME: default theme to use for the ui, can be set to light, dark or auto. Defaults to auto.
• DOWNLOAD_DIR: path to where the downloads will be saved. Defaults to /downloads in the docker image, and . otherwise.
• AUDIO_DOWNLOAD_DIR: path to where audio-only downloads will be saved, if you wish to separate them from the video downloads. Defaults to the value of DOWNLOAD_DIR.
• DOWNLOAD_DIRS_INDEXABLE: if true, the download dirs (DOWNLOAD_DIR and AUDIO_DOWNLOAD_DIR) are indexable on the webserver. Defaults to false.
• CUSTOM_DIRS: whether to enable downloading videos into custom directories within the DOWNLOAD_DIR (or AUDIO_DOWNLOAD_DIR). When enabled, a drop-down appears next to the Add button to specify the download directory. Defaults to true.
• CREATE_CUSTOM_DIRS: whether to support automatically creating directories within the DOWNLOAD_DIR (or AUDIO_DOWNLOAD_DIR) if they do not exist. When enabled, the download directory selector becomes supports free-text input, and the specified directory will be created recursively. Defaults to true.
• STATE_DIR: path to where the queue persistence files will be saved. Defaults to /downloads/.metube in the docker image, and . otherwise.
• TEMP_DIR: path where intermediary download files will be saved. Defaults to /downloads in the docker image, and . otherwise.
  • Set this to an SSD or RAM filesystem (e.g., tmpfs) for better performance
  • Note: Using a RAM filesystem may prevent downloads from being resumed
• DELETE_FILE_ON_TRASHCAN: if true, downloaded files are deleted on the server, when they are trashed from the "Completed" section of the UI. Defaults to false.
• URL_PREFIX: base path for the web server (for use when hosting behind a reverse proxy). Defaults to /.
• PUBLIC_HOST_URL: base URL for the download links shown in the UI for completed files. By default MeTube serves them under its own URL. If your download directory is accessible on another URL and you want the download links to be based there, use this variable to set it.
• PUBLIC_HOST_AUDIO_URL: same as PUBLIC_HOST_URL but for audio downloads.
• OUTPUT_TEMPLATE: the template for the filenames of the downloaded videos, formatted according to this spec. Defaults to %(title)s.%(ext)s.
• OUTPUT_TEMPLATE_CHAPTER: the template for the filenames of the downloaded videos, when split into chapters via postprocessors. Defaults to %(title)s - %(section_number)s %(section_title)s.%(ext)s.
• YTDL_OPTIONS: Additional options to pass to youtube-dl, in JSON format. See available options here. They roughly correspond to command-line options, though some do not have exact equivalents here, for example --recode-video has to be specified via postprocessors. Also note that dashes are replaced with underscores.
• YTDL_OPTIONS_FILE: A path to a JSON file that will be loaded and used for populating YTDL_OPTIONS above. Please note that if both YTDL_OPTIONS_FILE and YTDL_OPTIONS are specified, the options in YTDL_OPTIONS take precedence.

The following example value for YTDL_OPTIONS embeds English subtitles and chapter markers (for videos that have them), and also changes the permissions on the downloaded video and sets the file modification timestamp to the date of when it was downloaded:

    environment:
      - 'YTDL_OPTIONS={"writesubtitles":true,"subtitleslangs":["en","-live_chat"],"updatetime":false,"postprocessors":[{"key":"Exec","exec_cmd":"chmod 0664","when":"after_move"},{"key":"FFmpegEmbedSubtitle","already_have_subtitle":false},{"key":"FFmpegMetadata","add_chapters":true}]}'

The following example value for OUTPUT_TEMPLATE sets:

• playlist name and author, if present
• playlist number and count, if present (zero-padded, if needed)
• video author, title and release date in YYYY-MM-DD format, falling back to UNKNOWN_... if missing
• sanitises everything for valid UNIX filename

    environment:
      - 'OUTPUT_TEMPLATE=%(playlist_title&Playlist |)S%(playlist_title|)S%(playlist_uploader& by |)S%(playlist_uploader|)S%(playlist_autonumber& - |)S%(playlist_autonumber|)S%(playlist_count& of |)S%(playlist_count|)S%(playlist_autonumber& - |)S%(uploader,creator|UNKNOWN_AUTHOR)S - %(title|UNKNOWN_TITLE)S - %(release_date>%Y-%m-%d,upload_date>%Y-%m-%d|UNKNOWN_DATE)S.%(ext)s'

In case you need to use your browser's cookies with MeTube, for example to download restricted or private videos:

• Add the following to your docker-compose.yml:

    volumes:
      - /path/to/cookies:/cookies
    environment:
      - YTDL_OPTIONS={"cookiefile":"/cookies/cookies.txt"}

• Install in your browser an extension to extract cookies:
  • Firefox
  • Chrome
• Extract the cookies you need with the extension and rename the file cookies.txt
• Drop the file in the folder you configured in the docker-compose.yml above
• Restart the container

Browser extensions allow right-clicking videos and sending them directly to MeTube. Please note that if you're on an HTTPS page, your MeTube instance must be behind an HTTPS reverse proxy (see below) for the extensions to work.

Chrome: contributed by Rpsl. You can install it from Google Chrome Webstore or use developer mode and install from sources.

Firefox: contributed by nanocortex. You can install it from Firefox Addons or get sources from here.

rithask has created an iOS shortcut to send the URL to MeTube from Safari. Initially, you'll need to enter the server address and port, but after that, it will be saved and you can just run the shortcut from the share menu in Safari. The address should include the protocol (http/https) and the port, if it's not the default 80/443. For example: https://metube.example.com or http://192.168.1.1:8081. The shortcut can be found here.

iOS has strict requirements for video files, requiring h264 or h265 video codec and aac audio codec in MP4 container. This can sometimes be a lower quality than the best quality available. To accommodate iOS requirements, when downloading a MP4 format you can choose "Best (iOS)" to get the best quality formats as compatible as possible with iOS requirements.

kushfest has created a Chrome bookmarklet for sending the currently open webpage to MeTube. Please note that if you're on an HTTPS page, your MeTube instance must be behind an HTTPS reverse proxy (see below) for the bookmarklet to work.

GitHub doesn't allow embedding JavaScript as a link, so the bookmarklet has to be created manually by copying the following code to a new bookmark you create on your bookmarks bar. Change the hostname in the URL below to point to your MeTube instance.

javascript:!function(){xhr=new XMLHttpRequest();xhr.open("POST","https://metube.domain.com/add");xhr.withCredentials=true;xhr.send(JSON.stringify({"url":document.location.href,"quality":"best"}));xhr.onload=function(){if(xhr.status==200){alert("Sent to metube!")}else{alert("Send to metube failed. Check the javascript console for clues.")}}}();

shoonya75 has contributed a Firefox version:

javascript:(function(){xhr=new XMLHttpRequest();xhr.open("POST","https://metube.domain.com/add");xhr.send(JSON.stringify({"url":document.location.href,"quality":"best"}));xhr.onload=function(){if(xhr.status==200){alert("Sent to metube!")}else{alert("Send to metube failed. Check the javascript console for clues.")}}})();

The above bookmarklets use alert() as a success/failure notification. The following will show a toast message instead:

Chrome:

javascript:!function(){function notify(msg) {var sc = document.scrollingElement.scrollTop; var text = document.createElement('span');text.innerHTML=msg;var ts = text.style;ts.all = 'revert';ts.color = '#000';ts.fontFamily = 'Verdana, sans-serif';ts.fontSize = '15px';ts.backgroundColor = 'white';ts.padding = '15px';ts.border = '1px solid gainsboro';ts.boxShadow = '3px 3px 10px';ts.zIndex = '100';document.body.appendChild(text);ts.position = 'absolute'; ts.top = 50 + sc + 'px'; ts.left = (window.innerWidth / 2)-(text.offsetWidth / 2) + 'px'; setTimeout(function () { text.style.visibility = "hidden"; }, 1500);}xhr=new XMLHttpRequest();xhr.open("POST","https://metube.domain.com/add");xhr.send(JSON.stringify({"url":document.location.href,"quality":"best"}));xhr.onload=function() { if(xhr.status==200){notify("Sent to metube!")}else {notify("Send to metube failed. Check the javascript console for clues.")}}}();

Firefox:

javascript:(function(){function notify(msg) {var sc = document.scrollingElement.scrollTop; var text = document.createElement('span');text.innerHTML=msg;var ts = text.style;ts.all = 'revert';ts.color = '#000';ts.fontFamily = 'Verdana, sans-serif';ts.fontSize = '15px';ts.backgroundColor = 'white';ts.padding = '15px';ts.border = '1px solid gainsboro';ts.boxShadow = '3px 3px 10px';ts.zIndex = '100';document.body.appendChild(text);ts.position = 'absolute'; ts.top = 50 + sc + 'px'; ts.left = (window.innerWidth / 2)-(text.offsetWidth / 2) + 'px'; setTimeout(function () { text.style.visibility = "hidden"; }, 1500);}xhr=new XMLHttpRequest();xhr.open("POST","https://metube.domain.com/add");xhr.send(JSON.stringify({"url":document.location.href,"quality":"best"}));xhr.onload=function() { if(xhr.status==200){notify("Sent to metube!")}else {notify("Send to metube failed. Check the javascript console for clues.")}}})();

It's advisable to run MeTube behind a reverse proxy, if authentication and/or HTTPS support are required.

When running behind a reverse proxy which remaps the URL (i.e. serves MeTube under a subdirectory and not under root), don't forget to set the URL_PREFIX environment variable to the correct value.

If you're using the linuxserver/swag image for your reverse proxying needs (which I can heartily recommend), it already includes ready snippets for proxying MeTube both in subfolder and subdomain modes under the nginx/proxy-confs directory in the configuration volume. It also includes Authelia which can be used for authentication.

location /metube/ {
        proxy_pass http://metube:8081;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
}

Note: the extra proxy_set_header directives are there to make WebSocket work.

Contributed by PIE-yt. Source here.

# For putting in your Apache sites site.conf
# Serves MeTube under a /metube/ subdir (http://yourdomain.com/metube/)
<Location /metube/>
    ProxyPass http://localhost:8081/ retry=0 timeout=30
    ProxyPassReverse http://localhost:8081/
</Location>

<Location /metube/socket.io>
    RewriteEngine On
    RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} transport=websocket    [NC]
    RewriteRule /(.*) ws://localhost:8081/socket.io/$1 [P,L]
    ProxyPass http://localhost:8081/socket.io retry=0 timeout=30
    ProxyPassReverse http://localhost:8081/socket.io
</Location>

The following example Caddyfile gets a reverse proxy going behind caddy.

example.com {
  route /metube/* {
    uri strip_prefix metube
    reverse_proxy metube:8081
  }
}

The engine which powers the actual video downloads in MeTube is yt-dlp. Since video sites regularly change their layouts, frequent updates of yt-dlp are required to keep up.

There's an automatic nightly build of MeTube which looks for a new version of yt-dlp, and if one exists, the build pulls it and publishes an updated docker image. Therefore, in order to keep up with the changes, it's recommended that you update your MeTube container regularly with the latest image.

I recommend installing and setting up watchtower for this purpose.

Before asking a question or submitting an issue for MeTube, please remember that MeTube is only a UI for yt-dlp. Any issues you might be experiencing with authentication to video websites, postprocessing, permissions, other YTDL_OPTIONS configurations which seem not to work, or anything else that concerns the workings of the underlying yt-dlp library, need not be opened on the MeTube project. In order to debug and troubleshoot them, it's advised to try using the yt-dlp binary directly first, bypassing the UI, and once that is working, importing the options that worked for you into YTDL_OPTIONS.

In order to test with the yt-dlp command directly, you can either download it and run it locally, or for a better simulation of its actual conditions, you can run it within the MeTube container itself. Assuming your MeTube container is called metube, run the following on your Docker host to get a shell inside the container:

docker exec -ti metube sh
cd /downloads

Once there, you can use the yt-dlp command freely.

Make sure you have node.js and Python 3.11 installed.

cd metube/ui
# install Angular and build the UI
npm install
node_modules/.bin/ng build
# install python dependencies
cd ..
pip3 install pipenv
pipenv install
# run
pipenv run python3 app/main.py

A Docker image can be built locally (it will build the UI too):

docker build -t metube .

• The above works on Windows and macOS as well as Linux.
• If you're running the server in VSCode, your downloads will go to your user's Downloads folder (this is configured via the environment in .vscode/launch.json).