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alexta69 / metube

Self-hosted YouTube downloader (web UI for youtube-dl / yt-dlp)
GNU Affero General Public License v3.0
6.95k stars 445 forks source link
self-hosted youtube youtube-dl yt-dlp

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MeTube

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.

Build Status Docker Pulls

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.

screenshot1

Run using Docker

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

Run using docker-compose

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

Configuration via environment variables

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

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:

    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'

Using browser cookies

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

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

Browser extensions

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.

iOS Shortcut

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 Compatibility

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.

Bookmarklet

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 configured with HTTPS as true in the environment, or 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.")}}})();

Raycast extension

dotvhs has created an extension for Raycast that allows adding videos to MeTube directly from Raycast.

HTTPS support, and running behind a reverse proxy

It's possible to configure MeTube to listen in HTTPS mode. docker-compose example:

services:
  metube:
    image: ghcr.io/alexta69/metube
    container_name: metube
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "8081:8081"
    volumes:
      - /path/to/downloads:/downloads
      - /path/to/ssl/crt:/ssl/crt.pem
      - /path/to/ssl/key:/ssl/key.pem
    environment:
      - HTTPS=true
      - CERTFILE=/ssl/crt.pem
      - KEYFILE=/ssl/key.pem

It's also possible to run MeTube behind a reverse proxy, in order to support authentication. HTTPS support can also be added in this way.

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.

NGINX

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.

Apache

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>

Caddy

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

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

Updating yt-dlp

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.

Troubleshooting and submitting issues

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.

Submitting feature requests

MeTube development relies on code contributions by the community. The program as it currently stands fits my own use cases, and is therefore feature-complete as far as I'm concerned. If your use cases are different and require additional features, please feel free to submit PRs that implement those features. It's advisable to create an issue first to discuss the planned implementation, because in an effort to reduce bloat, some PRs may not be accepted. However, note that opening a feature request when you don't intend to implement the feature will rarely result in the request being fulfilled.

Building and running locally

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 .

Development notes