youtube-dl-server

A lightweight web and REST frontend for yt-dlp / youtube-dl that runs on a server and saves downloaded media to the host filesystem. It provides both a browser UI and an API for triggering and managing downloads, and is commonly deployed via Docker.

Key Features

• Web-based user interface plus a REST API for programmatic downloads and integration
• Supports yt-dlp or legacy youtube-dl backends for broad site support
• Docker image and docker-compose examples for easy deployment; can also run directly with Python
• Configurable via a YAML config file including global options, cache and output paths, and a metadata DB path
• Profiles support to define reusable download option sets (format, audio extraction, output directories, etc.)
• Saves downloaded files to a host-mounted directory and stores metadata in a local database (configurable path)
• Bookmarklet and simple curl/fetch examples for one-click or scripted submissions
• Frontend implemented with a JavaScript framework alongside a Python ASGI backend

Use Cases

• Centralized server for archiving YouTube videos, podcasts, lectures, and playlists
• Triggering downloads from other services or browser bookmarklets via the REST API
• Running scheduled or bulk downloads in a containerized environment with configurable profiles

Limitations and Considerations

• The project does not bundle HTTPS termination; it is intended to be placed behind a reverse proxy for TLS
• Upstream youtube-dl releases may be outdated; using yt-dlp is recommended for better site compatibility
• Some format conversions and audio extraction require external tools such as ffmpeg to be available
• No built-in authentication or access-control features are documented, so deploy behind an authenticated proxy for public access

In summary, youtube-dl-server provides a simple, Docker-friendly web and API front end to yt-dlp/youtube-dl for managing server-side downloads. It is configuration-driven with profiles and is suitable for automating or centralizing media downloads on a server.