Todo

• [x] Lectures (videos, subtitles, slides)
• [x] Readings
• [ ] Quizs
• [ ] Jupyter notebooks

Install

Python ⩾3.5 is required. It is RECOMMENDED to install dl_coursera in a virtual environment.

# make sure you have Python ⩾3.5
$ python -c "from __future__ import print_function; import sys; print(':-)' if sys.version_info >= (3, 5) else ':-(')"
:-)

# install the latest version of dl_coursera
$ pip install -U dl_coursera
$ dl_coursera --version

How-to

1. Get the cookies.txt file

   Sign in to Coursera, then use a browser extension to export cookies as cookies.txt. The cookies.txt will expire in about two weeks, so you don't need to do this so frequently.

   For Chrome, you can use the cookies.txt extension.

   

   For Firefox, you can use the Export Cookies extension.

   

2. Enroll

   Navigate to homepage of the course/specialization you'd like to download, you can see its slug at the address bar. Enroll in it.

   

3. Download

   $ dl_coursera --help
   usage: dl_coursera [-h] [--version] [--cookies COOKIES] --slug SLUG [--isSpec]
                     [--n-worker {1,2,3,4,5}] [--outdir OUTDIR] --how
                     {builtin,curl,aria2,aria2-rpc,uget,dummy}
                     [--generate-input-file] [--aria2-rpc-url ARIA2_RPC_URL]
                     [--aria2-rpc-secret ARIA2_RPC_SECRET]
   
   A simple, fast, and reliable Coursera crawling & downloading tool
   
   optional arguments:
   -h, --help            show this help message and exit
    --version             show program's version number and exit
    --cookies COOKIES     path of the `cookies.txt`
    --slug SLUG           slug of a course or a specializtion (with @--isSpec)
    --isSpec              indicate that @--slug is slug of a specialization
    --n-worker {1,2,3,4,5}
                          the number of threads used to crawl webpages. Default:
                          3
    --outdir OUTDIR       the directory to save files to. Default: `.'
    --how {builtin,curl,aria2,aria2-rpc,uget,dummy}
                          how to download files. builtin (NOT recommonded): use
                          the builtin downloader. curl: invoke `curl` or
                          generate an "input file" for it (with @--generate-
                          input-file). aria2: invoke `aria2c` or generate an
                          "input file" for it (with @--generate-input-file).
                          aria2-rpc (HIGHLY recommonded): add downloading tasks
                          to aria2 through its XML-RPC interface. uget
                          (recommonded): add downloading tasks to the uGet
                          Download Manager
    --generate-input-file
                          when @--how is curl/aria2, indicate that to generate
                          an "input file" for that tool, rather than to invoke
                          it
    --aria2-rpc-url ARIA2_RPC_URL
                          url of the aria2 XML-RPC interface. Default:
                          `http://localhost:6800/rpc'
    --aria2-rpc-secret ARIA2_RPC_SECRET
                          authorization token of the aria2 XML-RPC interface
   
   If the command succeeds, you shall see `Done :-)`. If some UNEXPECTED errors
   occur, try decreasing the value of @--n-worker and/or removing the directory
   @--outdir. For more information, visit `https://github.com/feng-lei/dl_coursera`.

   # download the course, of which slug is "mathematical-thinking"
   # saving files to the directory "mt"
   # using the "built-in" downloader
   $ dl_coursera --cookies path/to/cookies.txt --slug mathematical-thinking --outdir mt --how builtin

   # download the specialization, of which slug is "algorithms"
   # saving files to the directory "alg"
   # using the "built-in" downloader
   $ dl_coursera --cookies path/to/cookies.txt --slug algorithms --isSpec --outdir alg --how builtin --n-worker 1

Examples

using the "built-in" downloader

$ dl_coursera --cookies path/to/cookies.txt --slug mathematical-thinking --outdir mt --how builtin

using the "curl" downloader

# make sure curl (https://curl.haxx.se/download.html) is installed and in PATH
$ curl --version

The "curl" downloader can be used in two different ways: invoking curl, or generating an input file for curl.

invoke curl

$ dl_coursera --cookies path/to/cookies.txt --slug mathematical-thinking --outdir mt --how curl

generate an input file for curl

$ dl_coursera --cookies path/to/cookies.txt --slug mathematical-thinking --outdir mt --how curl --generate-input-file
$ curl --config mt/mathematical-thinking.download.curl_input_file.txt

using the "aria2" downloader

# make sure aria2 (https://aria2.github.io) is installed and in PATH
$ aria2c --version

The "aria2" downloader can be used in two different ways: invoking aria2c, or generating an input file for aria2c.

invoke aria2c

$ dl_coursera --cookies path/to/cookies.txt --slug mathematical-thinking --outdir mt --how aria2

generate an input file for aria2c

$ dl_coursera --cookies path/to/cookies.txt --slug mathematical-thinking --outdir mt --how aria2 --generate-input-file
$ aria2c --input-file mt/mathematical-thinking.download.aria2_input_file.txt

Using the "aria2-rpc" downloader

# make sure aria2 (https://aria2.github.io) is installed and in PATH
$ aria2c --version

# start aria2 with its XML-RPC interface enabled
$ aria2c --enable-rpc

$ dl_coursera --cookies path/to/cookies.txt --slug mathematical-thinking --outdir mt --how aria2-rpc

Using an aria2 GUI like webui-aria2 is highly recommended.

Using the "uget" downloader

# make sure uGet (https://sourceforge.net/projects/urlget/files/) is installed and in PATH

## on Windows
$ uget --version | more

## on Linux
$ uget-gtk --version

# start uGet

## on Windows
$ uget

## on Linux
$ uget-gtk &

$ dl_coursera --cookies path/to/cookies.txt --slug mathematical-thinking --outdir mt --how uget